What Does Your Heart Tell You?
by Bibilicious
Summary: When Don Flack and Danny Messer interrogate the feisty Niya Hayes, Flack has no idea this will be the start on a wonderful friendship... And more. Don Flack/OC
1. Chapter 1 Hell hath no fury

**Author Notes: Here's is chapter 1 of my very first Fanfic, so feel free to review. I'm open to anything that will help improve my writing. But if you just want to tell me how awesome the story is, that fine too!**

**In this first chap, Flack and Danny question the enigmatic Niya Hayes: a knock out beauty with a feisty temper. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Other than the amazing Niya Hayes, I don't own anything...**

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* * *

****Chapter 1 - Hell hath no fury...**

I'm obsessive when just one thought of you comes up  
I'm aggressive just one thought of closing up  
You got me stressing, incessantly pressing the issue  
'Cause every moment gone you know I miss you  
Just your presence and I second guess my sanity  
Yes it's a lesson, it's unfair, you stole my vanity  
My tummy's up in knots so when I see you I get so hot  
My common sense is out the door, can't seem to find the lock  
**S.O.S. - Rihanna**

* * *

"I'm telling you, Flack. The people in this city are getting crazier by the day. Killing other people left and right and don't even give a shit about it," Danny Messer told his best friend walking next to him as they were making their way to an interrogation. Don Flack nodded in agreement, while giving him a sideward glance. "Yeah, tell me about it. Last week I wrapped up a case featuring a woman who stabbed her cross-dressing husband in the eye with an eyeliner pencil. I never quite decided which one of them was the bigger fruitcake." Don chuckled at the memory, and then quickly regained his composure.

"You know what the best part is," Danny continued, "When you look at these people, you'd have no clue as to how messed up they really are. I mean, have you taken a look at the girl in the interrogation room?" Don shook his head. "You mean the suspect from the Mayer case? Nope, haven't seen her. What about her?" Messer's eyes grew wide as he stared at Flack dumbfounded. "You kidding me, Flack? You have got to be the only one in the building not to have seen this girl. She's been turning heads ever since she stepped in. I'm telling you man, this girl is something else."

The Blue Eyed Detective smirked as they continued their walk down the hall. "Sounds like you're in love there, Dan-o." Messer frowned as the two rounded a corner. Flack laughed lightly at the sight of the faint blush creeping on his friends' face. "Yeah, yeah. Enough already! Just wait until you see the girl," Danny spat at Don. That earned him another smirk. "I guess we're about to find out," Flack said just as they reached the interrogation room where Mac Taylor and Sheldon Hawkes were already waiting for them.

"About time you guys," Hawkes told them, amusement evident in his voice," you better hurry up in there and get started." Hawkes patted Flack on the back before disappearing into the backroom. Don turned his attention to Detective Taylor. "So what about this girl, Mac," Flack inquired, while trying to steal glances through the little window in the door to the interrogation room, wondering about the girl who had his friend all shaken up.

"The suspect's name is Naya Hayes. Or Neeya? Anyway, the suspect was seen having a good time with our vic at a club the night of his murder and apparently she left with him. His neighbors confirmed she went with him to his apartment. At the end of the story, the vic is dead. I'd say Miss Hayes has some explaining to do," Mac explained.

"You got that right, Mac. Oh, this might be important to know before we head in there, Flack. When Mac, Hawkes and I processed the crime scene, we found two shot glasses on the living room table so maybe she and the vic had a few shots, he got drunk and she killed him. Might as well use it to turn up the heat on her," Danny added. Flack grinned at that and narrowed his eyes at Messer. "From what you've been telling me, that girl is pretty hot all by herself."

Danny shot him an icy glare. "Ha ha, really funny. But seriously, we may have something else on her. We found traces of semen and vaginal fluids on the vic's bed. Samples have already been sent to DNA for analysis. I'm telling you, there's a good chance this Hayes girl got cozy with our vic. At least he went out with a bang." Flack chuckled at Danny's comment, but his laughter died when Mac gave him a stern look.

"Alright, that's enough, boys. Why don't you two get this girl talking? Hawkes and I will be on the other side of that mirror keeping an eye on you," Taylor said as he went to join Sheldon. Flack and Messer glanced from each other to the door of the interrogation room. Danny took a deep breath and exhaled forcefully before he turned towards Don. "You ready, pal?" He asked him. Flack nodded. "Let's get this show on the road already."

* * *

Earlier that morning Mac, Hawkes and Danny had been called onto a crime scene. The victim, the 31-year old Devon Mayer, was murdered in his apartment, the apparent COD: blunt force trauma to the back of the head. The vic was found by his best friend James Ackerman at about 8am, lying on his bed surrounded by a pool of blood. According to James he, Devon on some other guys had been partying the previous night in a club called The Zone, when Devon made a move on some girl. After Devon had introduced himself, she had told them her name was Niya Hayes. James had claimed she and the vic got friendly and they left around 6am for Devon's apartment together. So after leaving the party himself around 7.30am he went to get some details from his friend and found him to be dead.

Once the CSIs had started to process the crime scene, they found a pair of shot glasses on the living room table. Mac had packed them up to be dusted for prints back in the lab, and if they were lucky they would be able to extract some DNA from the rims. On the bed Danny found a small number of glass particles surrounding the vic and Sheldon spotted some more in the vic's head wound. There was no evidence of a struggle whatsoever and no visible defensive wounds on the vic's body. It seemed their only lead was a mysterious girl named Niya Hayes.

* * *

Danny hadn't said a word too much when he had told Don what awaited him. As soon as they set foot in the interrogation room, they were confronted by a girl, no older than 26, sitting across the table impatiently tapping her fingers on the tabletop. Flack took a good at look at her. Without a doubt she was one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes on. Her dark skin was flawless and seemed to radiate in the sunlight that streamed in through the blinds. Even though she was sitting down, he could see she had an athletic build and an impressive one at that: she had curves in all the right places. But the most striking were her eyes. Her big, green eyes that contrasted with her skin tone. While Flack took her in, Danny advanced onto the table and sat down.

Just then, the girl seemed to notice their presence. Her eyes focused first on Danny and then traveled to where Flack was standing.

"Well, well, well. Haven't you boys learned that it isn't nice to keep a lady waiting?" she smirked. Flack opened his mouth to reply, but Danny beat him to it. "The way I see it Miss Hayes, we still need to decide on whether or not you are a lady. Why don't you start answering some of our questions?" Danny said. Flack composed himself and moved alongside Messer. "How close are you to Devon Mayer, Naya?" Flack asked, while leaning over the table.

The girl narrowed her eyes at Don before she replied. "The name is Niya, officer. Nee-ya. And for your information I hardly know the guy." Danny smirked. "Seems weird to go home with a guy you don't know, doesn't it? And even weirder to sleep with him if you ask me," he stated. He observed their prime suspect, searching her face for any reaction, and studying her body language, but Niya's face showed no sign of emotion whatsoever.

"Let me tell you something Officer Goggles. I did not sleep with Devon Mayer, and even if I did, it's not illegal. Do you mind telling me what this is all about?" she snapped at Messer. "You're right, Niya. You sleeping with Devon is your own damn business," Flack responded," but him ending up dead after your little get-together makes it our business." Niya's eyes flickered for only the briefest of moments, but it did not escape Flack's attention. "Devon Mayer is dead?" she asked hesitantly. "Come on now, Niya! Do you really wanna go down this road? You were with Devon in his apartment the night he died. You slept with him. What happened? You had feelings he didn't return and you wanted him to pay?" Danny inquired. Niya's green eyes grew dark and she let her head down for a moment.

Suddenly her head jerked back up as rage burned in her emerald orbs. "Don't even go there! I told you I did not sleep with Devon! And I sure as hell didn't kill him! Do I look like a killer to you?" She snapped. "Killers never look like killers. That's what makes them so dangerous," Danny replied. Niya's chest started heaving up and down, her eyes still burning with anger. Flack decided to step in before either Danny or the girl did something stupid. "Listen Niya, if you didn't kill Devon, do you mind telling us what you were doing in his apartment last night?"

Niya's breathing calmed. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, she turned her attention to Flack. "You never did introduce yourself, Blue Eyes," she remarked. Flack furrowed his eyebrows, but replied nonetheless. "I'm Detective Don Flack, and this here is Detective Danny Messer. Now do you mind answering my question?" A faint smile played across Niya's lips as she nodded.

"I met Devon last night at this club called The Zone. He came onto me, we had a couple of drinks and he asked me to go back to his place. I wasn't ready to head home yet, so I figured why not. When we got to his apartment, he suggested we had a few more drinks before we got it on, but I passed. I told Devon he probably shouldn't have any more either. I mean, he was already pretty hammered. But he didn't listen, had some shots and then basically passed out. Even if I'd wanted to sleep with him, which I didn't, I don't really think he'd have been _up_ for it, if you know what I mean," Niya explained. Flack smirked. "Yeah, I think we got the idea," he chuckled. "Well anyway, after that I sort of left. I really had no idea Devon was dead. And I can honestly tell you I have nothing to do with it," Niya emphasized.

Danny and Flack crossed glances. Then Danny turned back to Niya. "Now that seems like a plausible story Miss Hayes, but there is one tiny problem. We found semen and vaginal fluids on Devon Mayer's bed. And I bet that if we compare your DNA to that sample we are going to have a match. And you do realize that once that happens, you'll be in major trouble right?" Again Niya shot a fierce death glare Danny's way.

"What is your problem, Four Eyes? I did not sleep with him! Match my DNA all you want, but the result will always be the same. It won't match. And I believe that means you have another woman to go and look for, don't you think?" Her eyes were cold and it took Danny all his self control not to openly shudder under that stare. "We'll know once we take a DNA reference sample from you," Danny smirked. "You'll get that sample, once you bring me a warrant," Niya shot back.

"Alright, alright, enough you two! Both of you back down," Flack interfered. He gave Danny a stern look, but his eyes softened when he looked at Niya. She was remarkably beautiful. And feisty. She was definitely a feisty one. The way she held her own against Messer was nothing short of impressive. Don didn't at all believe that this girl was capable of murder. But if she really was innocent, she was making this whole deal a lot harder for herself by not cooperating.

"Niya, trust me, you don't want to go there. If you didn't kill Devon Mayer then you shouldn't have anything to hide. Make this easier on all of us and give us the sample," Flack said as his eyes met with her gaze. Niya sighed deeply as she nodded. Danny grinned pulling out a swab. "Now open wide, Miss Hayes."

* * *

"Well that was interesting," Don stated as he and Danny left the interrogation room, on their way to deliver the sample Danny took from Niya to DNA for analysis. "Are you kidding me? That girl looked at me like a lion eyeing a gazelle. I don't think she's really fond of me," Danny sheepishly commented. Flack looked at him from the corner of his eye." Do you think, Officer Goggles?"

They both stopped in front of the elevator and Danny pushed the down button. "I don't get it though. Usually you're the bad cop. But this Hayes girl really seemed to like you," Danny pointed out. Flack shrugged, but what Danny didn't know was that the mere thought of a girl like Niya being faintly interested in him, made Flack's heart skip a beat. He quickly regained his composure and smirked at Messer.

"Yeah well, a little niceness goes a long way. What were you thinking yanking her tail like that? One look at the girl and you should've known she'd be a tough nut to crack. She doesn't look like she takes crap from anyone. I just figured we could get some more out of her by being friendly," Don reasoned.

"And it's a good thing you did," a voice from behind them replied. Both men turned around to find Hawkes and Mac approaching them. "You handled her pretty well, Flack. I honestly thought that she would clamp shut, but you made a pretty nice save there," Mac complemented. Danny's eyes lit up as he glanced over to his friend and found that Flack was forcefully gulping.

He seemed to be nervous, but why? He didn't really have a thing for this girl, did he? The girl was the prime suspect in a murder case for crying out loud. Then again, it wasn't like his own primitive instincts hadn't kicked in the minute he saw her. He was a man after all. But there was something about her that made him wonder. That cold stare of hers, the rage in her eyes, the way she snapped at him. It wasn't at all impossible for her to have killed Devon Mayer. Hell, she could've glared _him_ to death back in the interrogation room. But then again, if he'd been in her position and some detective had been grilling him that way, he would have lost it too. Maybe he should stop assuming things and let the evidence do the talking.

"Danny? Are you still with us?" Sheldon asked grinning. Danny pulled himself back to reality and looked over at Hawkes.

"Yeah, yeah. What did I miss?" The elevator arrived and the foursome stepped on board. "We were just discussing that talk we just had with Niya Hayes. She seemed genuinely surprised to find out Devon is dead," Don filled him in. "Not just that, but she didn't really strike me as a killer. She seemed too composed, too lucid to commit a murder like that. It just doesn't add up," Sheldon added. "Now let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's focus a little less on what Miss Hayes does and doesn't look like and focus a little more on the evidence," Mac scolded them. Sheldon nodded and just then the elevator doors opened.

The four men got off and continued towards the DNA lab. Once in the lab, they found Jane sitting behind a computer.

"What do you have for us, Doctor?" Mac asked her. Jane's head jerked up at the sudden sound of Mac's voice and she stood up. "I ran the DNA from the semen sample and it will be no surprise it matches your vic's. I also did a profile on the vaginal sample you recovered from the crime scene, even though it was slightly degraded, and ran it through CODIS. And I found a match," Jane stated as she handed Mac a folder.

"The DNA found on the vic's bed doesn't belong to Niya Hayes. It is a match to a Karyn Marshall. She was arrested two years ago for stalking," Mac told the others. "That doesn't prove that Niya didn't kill Devon though. It just means she didn't sleep with him," Danny inferred. "I don't know Danny," Mac responded," but if an obsessive woman like Karyn Marshall was sleeping with Devon Mayer and she saw him with Niya Hayes, that might have ticked her off." Flack turned towards Mac. "You thinking crime of passion?"

Mac sighed and looked at Karyn's picture on the rap sheet in the folder. "I'm not sure what to think of this one just yet. Why don't we bring Miss Marshall in for a chat?"

* * *

"Miss Marshall, how well did you know Devon Mayer?" Danny asked the red haired woman in front of him.

"What do you mean 'did'? Why past tense? You don't mean he's dead, right? Oh my God," Karyn gasped and covered her face with her hands. Just like he scanned for a reaction when interrogating Niya, Danny processed Karyn Marshall carefully. Her body language was nothing like Niya's. Niya had seemed strong and sure of herself, but Karyn looked nervous. Very nervous, actually. "Devon Mayer is dead, Karyn," Flack told her. Karyn moved her hands down to her lap and started sobbing hysterically. She was a mess. Flack just couldn't figure out whether it was because she was genuinely upset, if she was conflicted because she had something to do with his death, or if she killed him, didn't care and was just a damn good actress.

"I'm sorry," she sniffled," Devon was my boyfriend. I can't believe he's gone. What am I going to do without him?" Karyn gulped as Danny handed her a tissue. She patted her eyes as she started to calm down.

"How long have you and Devon been together, Miss Marshall?" Flack informed. Karyn frowned as she considered her answer. "About three weeks." Both Flack and Danny furrowed their brows and glanced at one another. Karyn grimaced. "I know what you're thinking. How serious could it have been, right? But our relationship was deep. We were on this level most people don't reach for years. We were meant to be together," She said dreamily. Danny snorted and Flack stared at her dumbfounded.

"Did both of you feel that way?" he asked. "Because it doesn't seem like Devon mentioned having a girlfriend to any of his friends. We found out about you two because we found your DNA in his bed. When is the last time you saw Devon?" Karyn contemplated for a moment before she replied."I think I last saw him a few days ago. I've sort of been avoiding him, you know." Danny squinted. "And why is that?" Karyn glared at him. "Because I was suspecting him of having an affair," she spat.

Flack widened his eyes at that. "You were suspecting him of having an affair three weeks into your relationship? Are you sure you two were on the same page?" Karyn irritably started tapping her nails on the tabletop. "Listen, Devon and I may have had issues, but I loved him," she answered. "So you did love Devon, maybe he didn't love you. You feel betrayed and you kill him. How am I doing so far?" Danny grilled her.

"You're wrong. Devon did love me. I just needed to ensure myself of it." Karyn stated. "And how did you do that?" Don asked while eyeing her suspiciously. "Because I suspected Devon was having an affair, I hired a private investigator to trail him. Listen, I don't know what happened to Dev. But my PI was on his tail, so she may have seen something." Flack leaned over the table. "And do you happen to know the name of that investigator?" he asked her. Karyn looked him dead in the eye and replied.

"It's Hayes. Her name is Niya Hayes."

* * *

"That's weird," Niya Hayes mumbled to herself as she turned off the shower," she isn't supposed to be here yet."

She wrapped the towel that she had placed on the sink around herself as she wiped her feet on the bathroom rug. Again there was the persistent ringing of the door bell. "Alright, alright, I'm coming already. Hold your horses, will you?" she snarled under her breath. She made her way to the front door, not even bothering to look through the peep hole first, and swung it wide open.

"You're early…" she started, but her voice died and her eyes widened as she gawked at the two men standing in front of her. They seemed to be as surprised as she was, most likely because of her current choice of attire. "Holy shit," Detective Messer mumbled, while both he and his colleague just stared at her half-naked appearance.

After the initial shock, Niya forced herself to recover. Her gawk disappeared and was replaced by a smirk as she shifted her weight to the left and raised an eyebrow. "Gentlemen, I didn't realize you made house calls. As you can see, I wasn't quite expecting you," she teased the frozen men in front of her. It seemed that Blue Eyes was the first to come to his senses.

"Ehm, yeah, we can see that, Niya. Sorry about that, but we found our last little talk to be… insufficient," he told her with a blank face. Flack was thankful for the fact the she was not a mind reader, otherwise she might have known how much will power it had cost him not to blush madly, let alone produce a coherent sentence. As far as he could tell Danny wasn't quite over the shock just yet. And apparently Niya had realized that too.

"Detective Messer," she started capturing Danny's attention," would you like to come in?" she continued with a suggestive look. Danny started blushing insanely, his eyes shooting frantically between the half-naked girl in front of him and his best friend. Flack did his absolute best to hide his amusement. Niya was teasing Danny and she was clearly enjoying it. But even though watching Messer squirm was extremely entertaining, they were there for some serious business. Not only had the interrogation of Karyn Marshall provided them with some interesting information about the seductive Miss Hayes, he had the feeling that there was something else that Niya hadn't told them yet. Something that could make or break this case.  
When he once again focused his attention on the girl in front of him, he met her questioning look.

"Do you guys mind? I'm catching a cold here," she said playfully, causing Don to frown.

"We're not here on a social call Niya," he told her sternly. She nodded and stepped aside, allowing the NYPD detectives to enter. She closed the door behind her, led them to her living room and told them to wait for her there. "Where do you think you're going?" Danny, who had finally found his voice again, inquired.

Niya stood in front of him defiantly and cocked her head to the side. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not quite dressed for an interrogation. So if you don't mind, I'm going to put on some clothes." Danny opened his mouth to respond, but immediately closed it again. Niya started towards her bedroom and just as she passed Flack, she winked. "I'll be right back boys," she yelled back at them.

* * *

Flack honestly had never seen a woman look as alluring as Niya did in her grey sweatpants and plain black tank top. Then again he was positive she could make anything look good. She just sat there at her kitchen table looking gorgeous and waiting for them to start the questioning. Eventually it was Danny who started the session.

"Let me ask you something. What do you do for a living, Niya?" he asked. "I'm what you may call… an observer," she slowly stated, obviously contemplating her response. Flack snickered at her creativity. Danny, however, was not at all amused. "Don't play games here, Toots. I would say that at this point the smartest thing you can do is cooperate." Niya snorted and looked away from him. "Come on, Niya. Work with us here," Flack aided Danny," word has it that you're more than just an observer. You are a PI. And not just any PI, but the one that just so happened to be investigating our victim. I got to admit , Niya, it doesn't look too good for you right about now. What happened? Was he onto you? Threatened to expose you? Enlighten us," the Blue Eyed Detective continued.

Danny kept a close eye on Niya, expecting her to blow up at any time with Flack accusing her like that. When he himself had pressured her that way, she had practically glared him to death, so he figured his friend should better brace himself. But for some strange reason, Niya remained calm and said nothing as she looked at Flack intently.

Don waited for her to respond, but when she didn't he resumed his interrogation. "You know, you had me quite puzzled at first. The fact that you went home with Devon even though you said to have had no intention of sleeping with the guy didn't make sense at all. But now everything falls right into place. While Devon thought you'd be joining him at his place for a little after party, you decided to take advantage of the opportunity and snoop around his apartment for some clues to his supposed affair. My guess is, he caught you, you panicked and you killed him."

Still they got no reaction for their prime suspect. Niya just sat there with a straight face, eyeing Flack carefully. Finally, she sighed deeply and narrowed her eyes at Don. "You don't even believe that yourself," she accused him. Flack furrowed his brows.

"What are you talking about?" Danny asked her. Niya ignored him and kept her attention on Flack. "You yourself don't even believe that I killed Devon. Which is good, because I didn't do it," she said slightly above a whisper. Don walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Then why don't you tell us what did happen. And this time don't leave anything out," he warned. He watched her take a deep breath before starting her story.

"You know what the worst part is about being a personal investigator? It's the fact that most of my clients are complete idiots. About four days ago this girl named Karyn Marshall, who undoubtedly was the one who told you about me, contacted me. She was suspecting Devon Mayer, her boyfriend of three weeks, of having an affair. I mean, get real! She was dating the guy for three lousy weeks. I didn't know either one of them, but I seriously doubted that Devon even knew he was in a 'relationship'. But hey, it is not my job to ask questions, it's my job to answer them. So after tailing him for a day or two, I hooked up with Devon at The Zone and went back to his place for some snooping, as you so eloquently put it." She gave Flack a meaningful look before continuing.

"When we got to his apartment he downed some shots and passed out. I looked around his apartment for a bit, seeing if I could find anything useful, but I didn't. He wasn't cheating. The only thing he could be blamed for was taking me home and I sort manipulated him into doing that. Anyway, that was my cue to get stepping. I got home at about 7am and called Miss Paranoid to tell her I had wrapped up my investigation and told her to meet me here tonight so I could report my findings. But she just said she already knew everything she needed to know. Then the connection got a little fuzzy and she just hung up," Niya concluded her story.

Flack squinted as Danny shot him a quick glance. "Did you just say that the connection got fuzzy?" Danny asked. Niya nodded slowly and gave him a questioning look.

"Niya, I will need to know exactly what it is you heard," he pressed. Niya bit her lip as she tried to recollect the conversation. "I don't know exactly how to describe it, but at first it sounded like I heard the rustling of plastic and after that I heard a crack, almost as if she had broken something. I just figured my call upset her for some reason," she finally stated. Danny stood up and started towards the door with Don right behind him, while Niya's confused eyes trailed them. "Congratulations Niya," Messer said," I think you've had the honor of witnessing the murder of Devon Mayer." Niya's green orbs widened and her jaw dropped as the two detectives stepped out the door. Flack smirked at her.

"Our apologies, Miss Hayes, but we have another house call to make."

* * *

Danny eyed the red haired woman sitting across the table, nervously fiddling with her nails. She was busted and she knew it. All there was left for her to do was to tell her story, to explain what had driven her to do what she did. Not that they needed her to, though. The evidence had more than spoken for itself. As soon as he and Flack had left Niya Hayes' apartment, they had paid Karyn Marshall, or Miss Paranoid as Niya had dubbed her, a visit. It had turned out that when Niya said her clients were idiots, she wasn't all that far from the truth. When they had taken Karyn in and searched her apartment, it didn't take them very long to find a black plastic bag and a bloody broken picture frame in the trash can, holding a photoshopped picture of Devon and Karyn. In Danny's opinion the girl was a complete nut job who was clearly obsessed with the vic. Even though he had a pretty good idea of what happened, Messer wanted to hear what happened out of the mouth of Devon's killer.

Suddenly Flack's voice pulled him back to reality. "Care to tell us what happened, Karyn?" he heard Don ask. At first Karyn showed no reaction, but then all of the sudden she snapped.

"If my damn PI had done her job, none of this would have ever happened!" Danny and Flack exchanged glances. "Last night, I went to see Devon. I made him a gift, a picture with the two of us in it. I wanted to prove to him how much I cared, how I felt about us, and then I saw them. I stood across the street from Devon's apartment and through the window I could see the bastard there with another woman. I always knew he was cheating on me. So I waited. I waited until she left and I went upstairs. I had already made a copy of his key, so I let myself in. And he was just lying there as if he didn't have a care in the world. Then that incompetent PI of mine called, telling me she had finished her research and that she want to meet to report to me. But I already knew what she was going to say. And that's when I just lost it. I took out the picture frame and gave the cheating bastard what he deserved," Karyn ended with a smug look on her face.

Flack shook his head. "You are pretty content with yourself, aren't you? But what you don't know is that Devon wasn't cheating. The girl you saw at his apartment? That was your PI doing her job. Snooping around for evidence so that she could report to you," he stated. Karyn's eyes grew watery and her mouth fell open. She gasped and threw her hands to her face as she hysterically started to sob. "I didn't know," she cried," all I wanted was to make sure I was his only one." Danny stood up, walked around the table to cuff her.

"And now you have," Flack retorted," It's just too bad the guy you loved some much had to get killed in the process."

* * *

It had been a long day. And Don for one was more than happy it had come to an end. He was walking alongside Danny down the hall on their way to Mac's office to report on solving the Mayer case. As their footsteps echoed throughout the hallway, both men were wrapped in a comfortable silence. Don decided to use this time to reflect on his hectic day.

It had all started off with the turmoil at the precinct that morning. Two officers went at each other over some woman they were apparently both into. That little scene of theirs had caused him to be late for Niya Hayes' interrogation. Niya Hayes. Now there was a girl who had definitely made his day worthwhile. For some odd reason he had been relieved that she didn't turn out to be the one who had killed Devon Mayer. There was just something about that girl. The way she looked at him with those big emerald eyes of hers, that defiant smirk that played across her face. She captured him and he wasn't afraid to admit it.

A smile crept on Flack's face as they passed the elevator and continued along the hall. Behind him he could hear the elevator doors open and the sound of high-pitched footsteps coming towards them.

"Wait up, Blue Eyes," he heard a familiar female voice say.

Both Flack and Danny turned around only to see none other than the amazing Niya Hayes approaching them. Danny cocked an eyebrow. "What are you doing here? We already wrapped up the case," he confusedly asked her. A broad small spread across Niya's face as she answered. "I just wanted to make sure everything turned out alright. It's not every day that I'm considered the prime suspect in a murder case," she said while giving Danny a meaningful look.

Messer shuffled uncomfortably, much too Niya's amusement. "Yeah, about that," he started while looking at her apologetically."No hard feelings right? I mean, I was just doing my job." Niya laughed heartily and briefly placed a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Consider yourself forgiven, Goggles," she teased. Danny let out a relieved sigh and Niya started backing up. Just as she turned to leave, Flack called her back.

"Hold on a second. There is just one thing I can't quite figure out." Niya crossed her arms and smirked as she waited patiently for Don to resume.

"We all know you were at Devon's apartment, but when we processed the scene there wasn't a single piece of evidence that proved you were in there. No hairs, fibers, fingerprints. It was as if you were invisible." Niya snickered before she answered the dark haired man in front of her.

"Do you know what the greatest asset to a PI is? The ability to be become invisible when the occasion calls for it." Flack's laughter echoed though the hallway as Niya turned and moved towards the elevator. "So what happens now?" Danny called to her. "Are you just gonna bleep off our radar again?" She chuckled, while walking towards them again digging in her coat pocket. She fished out two cards and handed one to both of them.

"In case you boys ever require my services," she said as she beamed at the detectives. Just then the elevator arrived and Niya got on. Right before the doors closed she winked. "Why do I have the feeling we will definitely be seeing her again in the near future?" Danny asked smiling and shaking his head. Flack smirked as he started to walk in the direction of Mac's office.

"I don't know Dan-o. All I know is that when we do run into her again, it's gonna be one hell of a meeting."


	2. Chapter 2 Unwrapping the mystery

**Author Notes: Here's is chapter 2 of WDYHTY! Again, feel free to message and review. I'm open to anything that will help improve my writing. But if you just want to tell me how awesome the story is, that fine too! I'd really like to know how i'm doing so far...**

**In the second chap, our hero Flack, Mac and Stella are wrapped up in an unsual case. However, they can't solve this case without the help of a certain someone we all know and love... Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Other than the amazing Niya Hayes, I don't own anything...**

* * *

**Chapter 2 - Unwrapping the mystery**

Baby let's go below the surface  
See what we can find  
There's no reason to be nervous  
'Cause it happens all the time  
I don't want to go up to the mountain  
I don't need to go down to the sea  
Gonna sit right here 'till we unravel the mystery  
**Dig Down Deep – Marc Cohn**

* * *

"And here we were thinking we had seen it all, right?" Flack asked a dumbstruck Stella Bonasera as they looked down at their latest victim. "It certainly isn't something you see every day," Mac responded. He looked down at the individual lying at his feet. A man, judging by his posture. Of course, once they stripped the vic they would know for sure.

"Please tell me what kind of person would take the time to do something like this. I mean it is one thing to kill someone in the heat of the moment, but this…" Stella's voice trailed off as she shook her head.

Flack had a hard time himself believing what he saw. It seemed like something out of a movie. Something that just didn't happen in real life. But here he was staring down at a real life mummy. Well, maybe not exactly alive.

Mac squatted down next to the vic, carefully studying the sight in front of him. "Who found him?" He asked Flack. Don pointed toward a man about 50 feet away, who was talking to an officer. "Terrence Hamilton. He was on his daily jog when he came across this guy. He thought it was best not to touch the body. He didn't have his cell phone on him, so he went to a nearby payphone and called 911. Waited here until the boys in blue showed up," Flack explained.

Mac glanced over at Terrence and then focused on the body again. "No apparent trauma. I don't see a single drop of blood," he stated. Flack smirked. "You know, that could have something to do with the fact our vic is wrapped in about a mile of wrappings," he said, causing Mac to snicker. "I don't see any evidence of a struggle in the soil. Wherever our vic was killed, it probably wasn't here," Stella observed. Mac stood up straight, but leaned back down when something next to the vic caught his eye. He put on a pair of latex gloves and picked the object up. He held it at eye level as he examined it. It seemed to be a scroll of some sort.

Stella stood next to him. "What have you got?" she asked. Mac squinted. "I'm not sure, Stella," he said while putting the scroll in a paper evidence bag. Stella sighed. "What do you think happened?" she asked no one in particular. Flack shrugged. "Beats me, but this guy was definitely wrapped up in something." Mac chuckled and shook his head. "Let's head back to the lab to see if we can get some questions answered."

* * *

Lindsay Monroe peered through the ocular of the microscope in front of her. This was the first time for her to examine this type of evidence and she was ecstatic.

"Lindsay! Have you found out anything yet?" Stella informed as she walked into the lab. Monroe looked up at her and smiled. "Well as a matter of fact I have," she started cheerfully. "The scroll Mac found is made from papyrus." Stella frowned. "Papyrus? As in what the ancient Egyptians used?" she asked. Lindsay nodded. "Yes, and it gets even better. I dusted the document for prints, but I didn't find any. There are, however, hieroglyphics all over it! Unfortunately for us, I don't read ancient Egyptian, so I have no clue as to what it says," she continued, while she handed over the scroll.

Stella took the scroll from Lindsay and scanned it quickly. "Yeah, neither do I," she admitted. "I think it's time to stop by the museum."

Stella was on her way to the elevator when she saw Mac approaching her. "Did Lindsay find anything?" he asked her. Stella nodded. "It's a papyrus scroll with glyphs on it. I'm on my way to the Met to get it translated," she briefed Mac. "Before you go, why don't we go see Sid? Maybe he found out something that can be helpful," he suggested. "Sure," Stella responded, "I'm dying to find out the story about this one."

* * *

"I have to say I've seen many things in my days, but I admit this is definitely in my macabre top 3," Sid Hammerback told Mac and Stella. "I'm not even sure where to begin with this," he continued. "Why don't we start with COD?" Mac suggested.

Sid nodded and walked around the autopsy table. He carefully maneuvered the vic in an upright position and pointed to back of the his head. "There appears to be blunt force trauma on the vic's occipital bone, but it is not what killed him," Sid explained. Mac furrowed his eyebrows. "Then what did?" Hammerback shrugged and laid the victim back down. "No other apparent injuries for as I can tell, except for an incision in the lower right side and a small puncture wound right here," he said pointing at the right arm.

"What's the estimation of TOD?" Stella inquired. "Ah, I was just getting to that," the ME stated. "I'd say about 12 hours. Initially, I wanted to estimate the time of death by checking the liver temperature. That is until I discovered the victim doesn't have a liver." Stella widened her eyes and Mac frowned. "That's not all," Sid continued. "When I looked a little further I realized that the liver was not the only organ missing. The stomach, lungs, intestines and even the brain are all gone." Stella's face contorted at Sid's discovery.

"Are you telling me that somebody has removed this guy's organs?" Mac asked disbelievingly. The ME nodded. "I found some other things on him, though. This for example," he said holding something up with tweezers. Mac inspected the organism Sid was presenting him with. "Is that a dead dung beetle?" Stella said with a disgusted look on her face. "I found it under the wrappings on his chest, placed directly over his heart. There was also a gooey substance smeared all over the vic. I collected a sample for you," Sid said, handing Stella a swab. "Finally I spotted some tissue residues in the nostrils," he resumed as he swabbed the nostrils and handed that swab over as well. Mac took the evidence from Stella. "I'll get this to the lab. Why don't you call Flack and head over to the Met. See if that scroll helps to make some sense out of all this." Stella nodded.

"You got it, Mac."

* * *

"Are you serious? His organs have gone AWOL? Now that is just nasty," Flack responded when Stella filled him in on the autopsy result. They walked through the Metropolitan museum on their way to the Egyptology department to get some answers. Stella had brought pictures of the scroll as well as from the dung beetle Sid found on the body. When they had looked at it more closely, they had discovered carved hieroglyphics on its chest plate. "I'm telling you, Don, this case just keeps getting weirder and weirder," she told the blue eyed detective walking next to her. Don merely chuckled in response.

Grant Gallagher, the curator of the Egyptology wing, examined the picture Flack held out in front of him. Gallagher squinted. "I can't believe it. That looks like rw nw prt m hrw! It's remarkable," he mumbled to himself.

"Do you mind explaining that in English, Chewbacca?" Don asked as he raised an eyebrow. "It's an adaptation of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. It contains clues aimed at helping the deceased to enter the afterlife. They were placed in the tomb or sometimes passages were painted on the walls of the crypt," the Egyptologist said.

Flack gave him a curt nod, went on and showed him the picture of the dung beetle. "That is a beetle from the species _Scarabaeus sacer_," he said. Don frowned. "A scarab," Grant clarified. Stella sat down across from him. "Why would anybody put a dead dung beetle on a corpse?" she inquired. Grant shook his head at Stella's ignorance. "In ancient Egypt the _scarab_ was considered to be holy. It was a representation of the sun god Ra and symbolized rebirth and resurrection. It was common practice to bury amulets of scarabs along with the body to protect the deceased," Gallagher explained.

"Okay, so what do the hieroglyphics on the scroll and the scarab say?" Don asked. "This is an ancient form of writing. Do you really expect me to able to just translate it like that?" the Egyptologist responded. "Isn't that what you people do?" Flack retorted. "It _is_, but it's going to take some time," Gallagher said with an annoyed sigh. Stella stood up.

"Well, we don't have time," she stated. Gallagher rolled his eyes.

"If you want one of our staff members to translate this for you, it might take a week or so. However, I happen to have a friend who knows a great deal about ancient cultures and has great knowledge of dead languages. If you want I could ask her to have a look at it." Don bent down over Grant's desk. "And how fast can your friend have this translated?" he informed. A smug look spread across Gallagher's face. "For me, she'll have a look at it tonight."

* * *

Danny laughed as he watched Flack down the rest of his beer. "I'm telling you that guy was getting on my last nerve," Flack said as he shook his head. Stella nodded in agreement. "I never could stand people who think they're all that," she added. Lindsay snickered when she saw the frustration on her colleagues' faces. "It's not funny," Flack scolded her. "The guy talked to us like we were retards or something. And don't even think about commenting on that, Messer," Don said smirking at Danny.

Once Stella and Don had returned to the lab that afternoon after their trip to the museum, Danny had suggested that they all went out for drinks at Sullivan's later. And there they sat recovering from the long day this bizarre case had brought them.

While Mac and Sheldon were engaged in a discussion on the other side of the table, and Lindsay and Stella were deep in conversation, Flack ordered Danny and himself another beer. Don took the bottles from the bartender and held one out to Danny. "Thanks man," Messer said while taking it.

"Are you serious? Those cost like $400 a pair!" Lindsay exclaimed in reply to something Stella had told her. Flack raised his eyebrows. Danny took a gulp of his beer. "Shoes," he said as he closed eyes and nodded knowingly. Don chuckled and looked down at the table in front of him.

"Get out of here," he suddenly heard Danny say.

"What?" he asked his friend. Danny sat up straight and pointed to a nearby corner of the room. "There! In that booth over there. Isn't that the PI girl from the Mayer case?" Don peered in the direction Danny was pointing. And there she was. Niya Hayes. Looking stunning as always. "You're right, that's her," Don responded. Danny eyed Don nervously. "You think we should go over and say hi?" Danny asked. Don laughed. "And tell her what? Hey, how have you been? Have you been a suspect any other murder cases as of late?" He teased. Danny shrugged. "It was just a suggestion," he defended himself. Don smirked as his eyes wandered back in Niya's direction. He involuntarily felt a sting when he saw a guy approaching her.

"Hey there," the guy started, flashing her a pearly smile. She looked up from where she sat and politely smiled back. "So uhm, are you here with somebody? Because if you're not, I was thinking maybe…" he raised his brows while his voice trailed off. Danny and Don glanced at each other and waited in suspense for Niya's reaction.

"She's going to kill him," Danny whispered to Flack. Then he turned his attention back to the scene unfolding in front of him. Even Mac and Sheldon had paused their discussion out curiosity for how this little showdown was going to end.

Niya narrowed her eyes at the man in front of her. "You were thinking what? That we could get out of here and go somewhere for some hot R-rated action?" she asked him with a smirk. The guy laughed. "You know, that doesn't sound bad at all. How about it?" he said with a suggestive look.

Don and Danny shot each other a look. Flack shook his head at the guy's forwardness and looked over at Niya again just in time to see her gently place a hand on the guy's arm.

"What's your name?" she asked him with a smile. "It's Domenic," he responded. "Well Domenic," she said as she pulled her hand back and crossed her arms, "I am not interested in you, your lame ass pick up lines or your penis. So do us both a favor and take a walk," she snapped at him.

"Ouch," Danny snickered as he turned his head the other way and burst out in laughing. Both Mac and Sheldon had amusement plastered on their face and Lindsay and Stella giggled at the priceless expression on Domenic's face as he blinked at Niya.

Niya looked him dead in the eyes. "Did I stutter? Take a hike," she told him nodding towards the door. Domenic hesitantly started to back away and disappeared towards the bar.

Flack laughed and turned to Danny. "Are you sure you don't want to go and say high?" he asked his friend. "You kidding me, Flack?" Danny chuckled. "Why don't you go?" Don shrugged. "Maybe I will," he stubbornly stated. Danny snorted. "Yeah right, as if," he retorted. Don stood up from his seat while his colleagues look at him disbelievingly. "Watch me," he smirked.

* * *

"Is this seat taken?" a deep voice asked Niya. She let out an irritated sigh.

"For your sake I hope you're not about to bombard me with stupid lines, because frankly I'm not in the mood," she said calmly without even looking up. "Aren't we being friendly, Miss Hayes?" the voice came again. Niya frowned at the use of her name. Her eyes lit up as she looked up at the man in front of her.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Detective Blue Eyes," she said as a wide smile spread across her face. Don smiled hearing the nickname she had given him. "Long time no see, Niya," he said. Niya laughed heartily. "Actually it hasn't been more than three weeks. Are you missing me already, Detective?" she teased. "Maybe a little," he stated playfully. Niya beamed up at him. "Why don't you sit down?" she asked motioning towards the chair on the other side of the table. Don nodded at took a seat across from her. From the corner of his eye he could see Danny's shocked expression and he couldn't help but smirk.

Niya gave him an amused look. "I must say it feels a little weird sitting here with you and not being grilled, Detective Flack," she joked. "It's Don," he responded. "What?" she asked confusedly. "My name. It's Don," he repeated. Niya held out her hand. "Well Don," she said as he shook it, "I'm Niya." Flack froze when her eyes linked with his own. He wanted to look away, but somehow he wasn't able to get himself to escape the penetrating gaze of those big green orbs of hers. Meanwhile Niya had to admit she was a little lost herself in Don's deep blue eyes and the sensation of him still holding her hand left her feeling slightly feverish.

A few feet away from them, even Danny and the rest of the team could feel the electricity in the air as Niya's emerald eyes and Don's sapphire ones connected.

To Niya it felt like time had stopped right then and there, that is until she heard a familiar voice calling her name. "Niya? Are you okay?" Niya nodded her head and looked to the side to see her friend. "Grant," she said as she instinctively pulled her hand back from Don. Grant Gallagher looked over at him.

"Detective Flack?" he asked.

Niya frowned. "You two know each other?" she informed, looking back and forth between Grant and Don. "Not really," Grant responded, "actually we just met today. He is the reason I called you." Niya crossed her arms. "Is he now? And why is that? You were a little vague over the phone," she inquired. Flack furrowed his brow. "Wait. Are you trying to tell me that Niya was the one you were talking about? She is the dead language genius?" he blurted out. Niya laughed loudly. "Dead language genius? Grant, you crack me up," she managed to choke out. Grant shot Don a glare before turning to Niya.

"Detective Flack and his colleague Detective Bonasera required some help in translating an Egyptian manuscript they found on a dead body and they came to me. However, getting the Met to translate it would take a lot of time, so I figured…" he smiled as his voice trailed off. "You figured your old friend Niya the Dead Language Genius could help you out," she finished for him. Grant nodded. Niya sighed and cocked her head as she looked up at her friend. "Did you happen to bring that manuscript along with you?" she asked him. Grant nodded and handed her a large brown envelope. Niya opened it and took out the pictures Stella had given Gallagher that afternoon.

She scanned them briefly and then turned to Don. "You are so lucky I like you," she said with a smirk. Don smiled back at her. "So how long will it take you to get that translated?" Hayes chuckled at that. "If you're good boy, I can tell you what it says right now," she snickered.

Over at the CSI table, five pairs of eyes followed every detail of the conversation. "Shouldn't we head over there and see what the scroll says?" asked Sheldon, barely able to contain his excitement. Danny nodded vigorously and Stella joined him. They both stood up and walked with Sheldon towards Flack, Grant and Niya. "Shouldn't we go too?" Lindsay asked Mac. He nodded, reluctantly got up and walked with Lindsay towards the others. Niya looked curiously at all the people that had gathered around her.

Flack noticed the look on her face and started introducing his friends.

"Niya, these are my colleagues from the New York Crime Lab. Detective Mac Taylor, the head of the team, Stella Bonasera and Lindsay Monroe. Of course you already know Danny Messer," Flack said with a wink. Niya smiled as she gave Danny a curt nod. Her eyes then trailed off to Hawkes. "I believe you forgot to introduce someone," she told Flack. Don glanced at Sheldon. "Oh right. That's Doctor Sheldon Hawkes. If you ever want to discuss the difference between DNA and RNA, he's your man," Don joked. Niya looked up at Sheldon.

"In my humble opinion RNA is most definitely underappreciated. It is very versatile, considering it's such a simple molecule and all. Isn't it remarkable how such a relatively basic structure can fulfill a variety of metabolic and regulatory roles in the human cell?" she asked the doctor. Sheldon laughed and held his hand out and Niya shook it. "We are going to get along just fine, Niya. It's a pleasure to finally meet you," he stated. Niya raised an eyebrow. "Finally? That would mean you have seen me before," she pointed out. Sheldon nodded. "I have seen you before. Mac and I listened in on your interrogation a few weeks back," he explained. "I see," Niya mumbled.

"Can we get down to business already?" the voice of a very annoyed Grant Gallagher snapped. Niya frowned."Alright, Alright, cool down already," she murmured as her eyes started to study the picture of the scarab.

"It's a Heart Scarab. You know, the kind they used as protective amulets," Grant explained.

"No, it isn't," Niya contradicted. Grant sighed impatiently. "I think I recognize a Heart Scarab when I see one, Niya," he snapped."It isn't a Heart Scarab, Grant. Heart Scarabs were used to keep the deceased from confessing their sins during the final judgment, but the inscription on this scarab does the opposite," she explained. "Whoever put this scarab on the body felt like the victim had some confessing to do," she continued.

Don and Stella glanced at each other.

Niya flipped onto the next picture. The one that showed the scroll Mac had found near the vic.

"I figured that has to be the Book of the Dead," Grant declared.

Niya squinted and Flack watched her as she intently studied the text. Mac stepped a little closer to Niya and looked over her shoulder at the picture in her hands. "Well, what does it say?" he asked her. Niya looked over at Grant apologetically.

"I'm sorry Honey, but this is not the Book of the Dead. Actually I'm not sure what it is. I haven't seen anything like it before," she stated and looked up at Mac. "Do you think you can tell me something about the case that can help me to put what I'm reading into perspective?" she asked him. Mac shook his head. "I'm sorry, but this is an ongoing investigation. I can't give you any details," he said. Niya nodded in understanding.

"Okay then. Here is what I can tell you. The papyrus you found is not an original Egyptian piece. The syntax doesn't resemble the ancient Egyptian style. It has more in common with nowadays English. I would say the person who wrote this is a native English speaker with extensive knowledge of glyphs. But the weirdest part of this text is the content. What I'm reading goes right against everything the Egyptians believed in. This can't be right," she said that last part more to herself then anyone.

"So what is it you're seeing?" Don inquired.

"This might seem like a weird question, but your victim isn't by any chance missing a couple of organs, is he?" Niya asked. Mac frowned. "As a matter of fact there are five organs missing," he responded. Niya squinted. "Are you sure they weren't in close proximity to the body and you just happened to overlook them?" she pressed. Don shook his head. "I was at the scene myself and I can assure you we didn't miss anything," he told her.

Terror spread across Niya's face as she looked back at the picture. Flack placed a hand on top of hers. "What is it, Niya?" he asked her, worry evident in his eyes.

"This scroll," she started, "I understand why Grant thought it was the Book of the Dead. The Book of the Dead was buried along with the deceased and contained clues on how to enter the afterlife. But this is something completely different. It contains clues alright, but of a different sort. It's a treasure map." She resumed. Danny looked at her confusedly. "What use is it to give a treasure map to a dead body? And what is the treasure anyway?" he informed.

Niya gulped before she answered. "This is not a map to money, Danny. This map leads to something that was taken from your victim." Mac stared at Niya disbelievingly.

"Are you trying to say that the killer left us clues on where to find the victim's organs?" he questioned.

Niya nodded. "Yes, but the clues aren't meant for us. Without their vital organs, the deceased can't enter the afterlife. The killer didn't leave the clues for us, but for the victim. However killed this guy wanted to make sure the victim's soul wouldn't find peace. He is sending the vic out on a scavenger hunt all throughout this city in order to make himself whole again," Niya explained. Stella shook her head.

"I can't believe it. Who would go that far? So basically those five organs are hidden in locations all over New York?" she summarized.

"Not five. Four," Niya corrected.

"No, Stella is right. There were five organs missing. The brain, the lungs, the intestine, the stomach and the liver," Mac cut in. Niya smiled softly. "You're undoubtedly right Mac, but you will only find four organs. Unlike the other organs, the Egyptians believed the brain to be useless and it was discarded. I don't think you'll find it. As for the other four, they could be hidden just about anywhere," Niya stated. Mac nodded in agreement.

"Whoever is behind all this, has taken a lot of time to organize and execute his plans. We will need your help if we want to wrap up this case, Niya. You're the only one who can read the clues and interpret them. We need you as a part of this team. Can we count on you?" Mac asked her.

Niya hesitated and looked down at the pictures again. "Come on Niya, for old time's sake," Danny joked.

"We can't do this without you, Niya," Don said as he once again took her hand. Niya looked up and was greeted by his blue eyes looking deeply into hers. She let out a long deep sigh and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, a smirk played across her lips.

"Alright, I'm in," she said.

Mac smiled and Danny patted her on the shoulder. Stella and Lindsay beamed at her and Sheldon nodded approvingly. Niya's eyes wandered to Don again only to meet his wide grin. "Welcome to the team, Hayes," he smirked, his eyes sparkling in amusement. "Thanks, Blue Eyes. And just so you know," she said as she leaned over the table, getting closer to Don, "you owe me big time."


	3. Chapter 3 The Scavenger hunt

**Author Notes: Here's is chapter 3 of WDYHTY! Again, feel free to message and review. I'm open to anything that will help improve my writing. But if you just want to tell me how awesome the story is, that fine too! I'd really like to know how i'm doing so far...**

**A special thanks to everyone who added my story as a favorite and to BlueEyedAuthor for the review! It is very much appreciated!**

**In this third chap, our Niya joins the CSI team in order to solve the Mummy case. And she has a little heart to heart with the world hottest homecide detective... Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Other than the amazing Niya Hayes, I don't own anything...**

**

* * *

****Chapter 3 – The scavenger hunt**

I am a mountain, I am a tall tree  
I am a swift wind sweeping the country  
I am a giant, I am an eagle  
I am a lion down in the jungle  
I saw the light at the end of a tunnel  
Believe in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow  
And faith was right there to pull me through  
Used to be locked doors now I can just walk on through  
**The World's Greatest – R. Kelly**

* * *

"Hold on a sec, I'll be right there," Niya called out to the person ringing the doorbell as she hopped around on one leg, trying to put on her shoes. Once she succeeded, she quickly made her way to the front door to open it. She swung open the door and was greeted by the stunning smile of a certain blue eyed detective, looking absolutely gorgeous in his dark blue suit, light blue dress shirt and an indigo and grey striped tie.

"Good morning, Don," Niya greeted him, a smile of her own spreading across her face.

"Morning, Niya. I come bearing gifts," Flack replied, while holding up two coffee cups.

Niya laughed and stepped aside for him to enter. "Come on in for a minute," Niya offered, "I'm almost done. I just gotta grab one last thing." Flack followed Niya inside, walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter while Niya disappeared towards her bedroom. Half a minute later she returned, holding a purse and joined him by the counter. Don straightened up and handed her a coffee cup.

Niya took it hesitantly. "Thanks, Don, that's really sweet of you, but I have to admit coffee isn't really my thing," Niya said, giving Don an apologetic look. Don smiled.

"Yeah, I kind of figured that one out already. Somehow you didn't strike me as a coffee person. That's why I brought you something else," he explained with a smirk. Niya narrowed her eyes at him. "Am I really that transparent?" she asked him. Don laughed heartily. "Not at all. But I just so happen to be a very observant guy. And to be completely honest, you are a tough one to read, Miss Hayes," Don stated. Niya stuck out her tongue and took a swig from her cup.

As soon as the liquid entered her mouth she closed her eyes, savoring the taste of it. "Hmmm," she murmured, "this stuff is really good. What is it?" she asked Don as she slowly opened her eyes again. Don didn't answer. Instead he just stared at her, taking in every inch of her being. She was wearing a black blouse with the top buttons left undone, tight fitting blue jeans and a pair of black stilettos. Her long black hair was pulled up in a ponytail and she wore simple but elegant diamond ear studs. Don's eyes traveled across her face. There didn't seem to be a single ounce of make on her and yet she couldn't have looked more perfect. Her pink lips were moving, but Don was too captivated by her appearance to make out what she was saying.

"Don? Are you okay?" Niya asked, worry evident in her voice.

Don mentally slapped himself in order to return to reality. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. What was it you were saying?" he asked. "I was asking what it is you brought me" Niya repeated. "Oh uhm, I think it's called a bambino or something. Coffee mixed with hot chocolate, vanilla and caramel," he answered. Niya nodded approvingly and took another sip of her drink, while Don watched her.

"Will you stop staring at me like that?" Niya giggled when she saw Don eyeing her. "Why?" he asked innocently, a smirk tugging at his lips. "Because you're making me feel a little naked here," Niya laughed. "Don't worry," Don replied, "I don't have X-ray vision. I wish I did though," he teased. Niya hit him playfully on the arm. "Alright, alright, Casanova. We should head over to the lab before Mac chews our asses for being late." Flack nodded and waited for Niya to put on her coat and grab her keys. "Okay! I'm all set," she said as she walked towards the door.

* * *

Don and Niya sat in Don's car as they were making their way to the New York crime lab. Don focused on the road in front of him, while Niya looked out of the window letting the views of the city pass her by. They had been driving in a comfortable silence until Don spoke up.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something," he said, briefly glimpsing at Niya before he turned his eyes back to the road. "Go right ahead," was her reply, her eyes still staring out the window.

"What's the deal with you and this Grant guy? You guys dating or something?" Flack asked. Niya snorted. "Was that some sort of slick NYPD detective way of finding out if I have a boyfriend?" she smirked at him. "No," Don chuckled, "I was just asking." Niya sighed and turned to face Don.

"Grant Gallagher and I go way back. We went to high school together, had a short fling in our early twenties, but for me that's it. Grant, however, still believes that the two of us can have, and I quote, 'a relationship that surpasses the standard crap other people settle for, and can take us both to great heights'. I mean, who says that?" Niya exclaimed causing Don to laugh loudly.

"Are you serious? Well, at least the two of you would be on the same intellectual level," he snickered.

"Speaking of that, how did you come to know about all this old stuff? You know, reading the glyphs and everything?" Don curiously asked the girl next to him. "My father," Niya replied dreamily. Don gave her a questioning look, encouraging her to continue.

"When I was a teenager and hit puberty, my dad noticed I got a lot of… attention," Niya started. "He wasn't particularly happy with the fact that people, mostly guys, liked me for my looks. And he most certainly didn't want me to depend on it. He always said that being pretty is not necessarily an asset. He used to tell me that it caused people to have low expectations of me and that I always had to work twice as hard as everyone else to prove I wasn't a bimbo," Niya snickered while saying the last part.

"So he used to take me to museums and exhibitions to spark my interest for history, science, art and other cultures. He wanted me to know a little bit about everything, to be the best I could be and after a while I realized that it was what I wanted as well. I am still thankful for that every single day," she concluded, a smile gracing her lips. Don smiled back at her while slowing the car down in order to stop for a red traffic light.

"Your father sounds like a smart man. Do you still see him?" he asked looking sideward at Niya. She nodded. "Sure as hell do. And every time I see him he asks me when I'm going to settle down. And every time I have to tell him that I'm not in a hurry," she chuckled.

Don frowned at that. "You're not looking for a long term relationship?" he asked obviously surprised.

"I'm not looking for anything," Niya responded with a smirk, "I'm patiently waiting for the right guy to find me." Don turned his head and looked deep into her eyes. "Well maybe, just maybe, he already has," he said slightly above a whisper. Niya's emerald eyes peered back into his own as if she was looking for something. "It's green," he suddenly heard her mutter. "What is?" he asked her confusedly.

"The traffic light, doofus. It's green. Go!"

* * *

"Good morning, Flack… And Niya?" Stella said when Don and said girl walked into the lab.

"Don't worry. He just gave me a ride here," Niya said while she gave Stella a reassuring smile.

"Oh no," Stella quickly said waving her hands in front of her chest. "What the two of you do together is none of my business. As long as it doesn't interfere with this case," she defended. "That's nice to know," Don teased, earning him a stern look from Niya. Just then Lindsay and Sheldon walked into the lab, and as soon as Hawkes spotted Niya he gave her a warm smile.

"Morning everyone," Lindsay greeted her colleagues. "Hey there," Niya replied cheerfully, before noticing that two team members were still missing. "Where are Mac and Danny?" she asked Stella. "Mac's right here. Danny's got the late shift," she heard Mac's distinctive voice say behind her. She turned around and offered him a wide smile. "Niya, I really hate to be so forward, but I need you to get to work immediately. That translation of yours is of vital importance in this case," Mac said.

Niya nodded in understanding. "Can I by any chance see the original document?" she asked. "Sure," Stella replied whilst heading over to the evidence vault, taking out the scroll and then handing it to Niya. The CSIs and Flack waited in anticipation as she carefully handled the document and studied it intently.

"As I told you before, this is a treasure map of sorts. It says that the dead guy will have to mimic the cycle of the sun in order to complete himself and enter the afterlife. If his soul is unable to understand the riddles in this document, he is doomed to roam the face of the earth just like _she_ is," Niya stated. Lindsay frowned. "Who is _she_?" she asked. Niya shrugged and kept her eyes on the scroll. "I don't know. That's all it says. The text continues onto the first riddle after that," she replied.

Sheldon walked around the table and peered at the document over Niya's shoulder. "So what does the first riddle say?" he inquired curiously. Niya was quiet for a moment before she started to cite the papyrus.

"Go hence to the corner where the jackal-headed hunter resides, to where he was slain by the Lord of the forest, betrayed by Water. Where his native surroundings face confinement you will find him there where he lies at Nut's feet engulfed by Geb."

Lindsay, Don and Stella stared Niya dumbfounded, while Mac and Sheldon seemed to dig deep into their minds trying to make sense out of all of it. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Flack exclaimed. Niya took a deep breath and sighed heavily.

"You honestly expect me to know?" she asked with a smirk.

"Well, you're supposed to know this stuff," he stated smartly. Niya chuckled and raised an eyebrow.

"The deal was that I translated the text for you, and I did just that. Making sense out of it wasn't in my job description," Niya pointed out. "You two do realize that this isn't helping, don't you?" Mac scolded. Both Niya and Flack nodded. "Yeah, we do. Sorry about that," Niya said with an apologetic smile. "It's okay," Mac replied, "but at least try to help out here. You know a lot about Egyptian mythology, so if anyone can figure this out it's you."

* * *

"Go hence to the corner where the jackal-headed hunter resides," Niya mumbled out loud. "Who is the jackal-headed hunter? Come on, Niya, think, think, think," she scolded herself.

She sat on the steps in front of the crime lab and trashed her mind trying to solve the riddle. She had been in that position for nearly two and a half hours, quivering because of the cold November winds, and hadn't gotten a single step further.

"Okay, again. Go hence to the corner where the jackal-headed hunter resides, to where he was slain by the Lord of the forest, betrayed by Water. I know this, I know I do. I just need to…. focus!" she exclaimed.

"Oh man, she's loosing it," she heard Don's voice say.

She looked up to see him standing next to her. "I'm sorry about that, I'm just really worked up right now," she apologized. Don snickered. "Are you serious? I haven't seen a girl so upset since Simba's father died in 'The Lion King'," Don joked. Niya's eyes widened. "'The Lion King'… Son of a bitch!" she cried out.

Don's jaw dropped whilst he gawked at her. "Oh. No, not you," Niya defended, "I think I finally get the riddle now," she chimed and before she realized what she was doing, she hugged Don tightly.

Flack tensed up at her touch, but once the initial shock had subsided, he relaxed and returned the hug. When her actions dawned on her, Niya quickly pulled back and averted her gaze to the ground.

"I'm so sorry…" she started, but Don cut her off. "Don't worry about it. You just solved the puzzle, so I do realize you would've hugged just about anyone right now. And besides, it didn't feel half bad," Don reassured her. Niya gave him a small smile. "Let's go back in and tell Mac the good news, shall we?" she suggested. Flack nodded in agreement as they started to make their way back inside.

* * *

Mac Taylor sat behind his desk when he heard a knock on the glass door to his office. "Come in," he called and watched as Lindsay made her way inside. "Okay, I can promise you that once I'm done talking you are going to love me," Lindsay started excitedly. Mac raised an eyebrow and gave Lindsay a curt encouraging nod. "Alright, yesterday Sid collected blood samples from the vic and sent them over to DNA and tox. Now, I have the toxicology report and it seems the cause of death was respiratory arrest due to poisoning. And not just any poison. The killer used strychnine," Lindsay rambled. Mac frowned as she handed him the tox report.

"Strychnine is an aggressive poison to use. It causes extremely painful convulsions and respiratory failure, and the victim is conscious during all of it. It can take hours for a person to die from strychnine, but they are unable to move because they are continuously tortured by excruciating muscles spasms," Mac elaborated.

"Not this guy," Lindsay contradicted, "our vic got a concentrated dose and it killed him within 30 minutes. Although it probably were the longest 30 minutes of his life," she pointed out. "What else have you got?" Mac inquired.

"I also got the results of the DNA analysis, ran them through CODIS and I got a hit. Our victim is 23-year old Hani Barakat. He was an intern from Egypt who worked for the New York Egyptologist Amir Kamal until two months ago. Back then he was the prime suspect in the disappearance of Kamal's daughter Monira, but there he was released due to lack of evidence against him and until now Monira's case yet remains unsolved," Lindsay ended mysteriously. "That's sounds like motive to me," Mac stated, "but we're going to need the evidence to back up our assumptions." Lindsay was about to reply, but she was cut short by an excited Niya who marched into the office with Flack right behind her.

"Mac, let me start by saying I couldn't have figured this out without Don's help, but I solved the riddle!" she chimed.

"That's great, Niya. I knew you could do it," Mac said with a warm smile. "So where is it leading us?"

Niya's green eyes sparkled in eagerness. "Well, the riddle said 'Go hence to the corner where the jackal-headed hunter resides, to where he was slain by the Lord of the forest, betrayed by Water. Where his native surroundings face confinement you will find him there where he lies at Nut's feet engulfed by Geb'. At first I didn't get it, I couldn't figure out who the jackal-headed hunter was. That's where you and Mufasa came in," she said with a nod in Don's direction.

"The Lord of the forest is a lion, the king of the jungle. In ancient Egyptian mythology the god Duamutef, a son of Horus, was betrayed by the goddess Neith whose name can be translated as water, and subsequently killed by a lion. Duamutef was a hunter and was portrayed as a man with the head of a jackal," Niya proudly explained. "Impressive," Mac praised her, "but what about the rest of the riddle?" Niya smiled and continued her story.

"Duamutef is one of the four sons of Horus, each of which represents a cardinal point on the compass, in Duamutef's case it's the east. And as for his native surroundings, what would you consider to be native for a hunter, Mac?" Niya asked him. Mac narrowed his eyes as he contemplated his answer.

"A forest," he finally replied.

"What I thought exactly. So what we're looking for is a confined forest. I was thinking a park maybe, or a garden, in the east of the city. And the easternmost borough of the city happens to be Queens. The last part of the riddle refers to the location of Duamutef as being at the feet of Nut, who is the sky goddess. But Nut was sometimes represented as a sycamore tree. As for Geb, he was the god of the earth. Engulfed by Geb would mean buried. So we're looking for something for something that was buried between the roots of a sycamore tree in a park or garden in Queens," Niya concluded her monologue.

"Boom," Flack said in awe, "that is pretty impressive. And you figured out all of that because I brought up 'The Lion King'? That's pretty cool," he said with a smirk.

"Yeah, it is," said Lindsay, "but what is it we're looking for?" Niya smirked.

"I was just getting to that. The four sons of Horus were important in protecting the dead. When the organs of the deceased were removed during the process of mummification, the organs were all place in separate jars, referred to as the canopic jars. Each jar was protected by a son of Horus. Duamutef was the protector of the stomach," Niya explained.

Don's face contorted with disgust. "You're telling me that there is a stomach buried in some park in Queens? Man, how am I gonna sleep at night?" Don said while shaking his head.

"Flack, you live in Queens. Where's the highest or oldest sycamore in the borough?" Mac inquired. Flack frowned as he dug through his memory in search of an answer. "I guess that would be in the Queens Botanical Garden over in Flushing," he responded. Mac looked at Niya with a smirk. "Then Flushing, Queens it is."

* * *

It was around two in the afternoon when Mac, Niya and Don walked though the Queens Botanical Garden in search of a giant sycamore. It was cold outside, the kind of weather that made you want to put on sweat pants and an oversized sweater only to curl up in a corner of the couch with a cup of hot chocolate with those cute little mini-marshmallows in it. But for Niya, mini-marshmallows were but a distant dream, because she had work to do.

The threesome continued their stroll through the garden, until Don all of the sudden pointed in the distance. "Isn't that a sycamore right there?" he asked.

"It seems to be quite a bit bigger than the ones we've seen so far," he continued. "Let's check it out," Mac replied. As they closed in on the tree, Niya spotted a white object at the base of the stem.

"Is that a goose?" Flack questioned confusedly. Mac nodded. "More specifically it's a dead goose," he stated.

"This is the place," Niya exclaimed. "When the canopic jars were sealed away with the body, a goose was sacrificed to each respective son of Horus. I think this means we found the feet of Nut," she explained. "All we need to do now is to start digging," Mac pointed out. Flack rolled his eyes. "I figure it's gonna be me who's gonna have to do the digging, right?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Niya snorted. "Well, it sure as hell isn't going to be me," she declared. Don huffed and pulled out the shovel they had brought along with them. He then carefully started digging after Mac had bagged the remains of the goose. When he had reached a depth of about one and a half foot, the shovel hit something hard.

Niya walked over and inspected the Tupperware box that Don had already lifted out of the hole and now held in his gloved hands.

"I can't believe that I'm holding someone's guts. My life is never gonna be the same after this," Flack stated. Niya snickered as Mac helped Don to place the box in an evidence bag. "Well I guess our first quest has been completed," Mac pointed out, "so let's get all of this back to the lab." Flack and Mac started walking away from the tree, until Niya called them back.

"Hey Mac, don't you want to take a soil sample for future reference," Niya suggested, but she lowered her eyes when she saw Mac looking at her intently.

"Oh uhm, sorry, I didn't mean to… I just thought that it might be helpful and…" she tried to defend herself, but Mac cut her off by gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"You don't need to apologize, Niya. It is a very smart idea to have a reference sample from the scene and I should've thought of it myself. It's good to know that I have someone on the team who pays attention to detail," Mac reassured her and Niya beamed at him. "Now this is all very touching, but the cold is killing me," Don interrupted. "You're right," Niya acknowledged, "Let's get going."

* * *

The thunderous laughter of Danny Messer echoed throughout the lab. "The Lion King? Man, that is hilarious! I can't believe you solved it, Niya," Danny said, "You're like our very own Indiana Jones." Niya laughed at that and shook her head.

By the time she, Mac and Don had returned to the lab, Danny had been in the lab with Lindsay preparing the sample Sid had taken the first day of the gooey substance on the victim for GC/MS analysis. When they had told Danny about the riddle and the way Niya had managed to solve it, he had burst out in laughing. Now Niya sat in the lab with Danny, Lindsay, Don and Stella, waiting until it was time for her to head home. Suddenly Don stood up.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna head over to the precinct to get some paperwork done before I clock out. I'll see all of you guys tomorrow," he stated. "Alright," Danny replied. "Are we still on for Sully's tomorrow?" he asked. Don nodded and gave him the thumbs up as he walked towards the door. Before he exited the room he halted, turned on his heels and gave Niya a look.

"Hey Jonesy, can I have a word with you?" he asked her.

Niya frowned, but got up nonetheless and followed him out into the hallway.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Listen, I was thinking," Don started. "I was thinking maybe we could hang out later tonight. Maybe go see a movie or grab a bite to eat," he suggested. Niya raised an eyebrow. "You mean like go on a date?" she inquired. Don shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you could say that," he answered. Niya sighed.

"Don't get me wrong, Don. You're a great guy and I like you a lot. But as long as we're working this case together, I don't think it's a good idea for us to… get involved," she explained carefully. "It's just a movie, Niya," Don argued, hoping she would change her mind. "I know that," she replied, "and once this case is rounded up, we can go watch all the movies you want, I promise. Just bare with me a couple of days, okay?" she asked pleadingly.

Don sighed deeply and nodded in understanding. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then. Do you need a ride over here?" he asked her with a soft smile. Niya gave him a warm smile in return. "I would like that very much, Detective," she told Don.

He gave her a curt nod and headed over to the elevator. The doors opened immediately, he stepped in and as the doors closed he took one last look at the girl who had caused his heart to shift into overdrive.


	4. Chapter 4 Tales of New York City

**Author Notes: Here's is chapter 4 of WDYHTY! I know it has taken a while... Sorry!! School was killer: mid-terms, essays, presentations, you name it. But I'm back now... I have to warn you guys though. This chapter is a little different from the other ones. It's written in first person and switches between differnt people POV. If you don't like it, don't worry! The next chapter will be the same old style!**

**Again, feel free to message and review. I'm open to anything that will help improve my writing. But if you just want to tell me how awesome the story is, that fine too! I'd really like to know how i'm doing so far...**

**A special thanks to everyone who added my story as a favorite and to again BlueEyedAuthor for the review! It is very much appreciated!**

**In chapter 4, the CSIs and Niya tackle the second riddle and Niya and Don ave not so friendly collision... Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Other than the amazing Niya Hayes, I don't own anything...**

**ps. The song Adam sings is Dust to Dust by Misfits**

**

* * *

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**Chapter 4 – ****Tales of New York City**

The comfort that he gave me  
Is the reason I'm behaving  
So carefully I feel that I'm confused  
And I don't know when it happened  
But slowly I surrender  
I start to change the way I look at you  
Will this summer end, lover or friend  
When you wake up from the dream, what will it be  
And you don't know what you lose  
But you know you have to choose  
Between a lover and a friend  
**Lover or Friend – Katja Schuurman**

* * *

**The Tale of Indiana**

This day isn't at all going the way I had expected it to. I can't even begin to explain how frustrated I am. And the best part is that I don't even know where exactly it went wrong. This morning everything was fine, the drive over to the lab was fine, and all of the sudden… Boom! Radio silence. I don't get it, I honestly don't. If I have a problem with someone I confront them. That whole silence treatment thing doesn't really do it for me. So I don't understand why he won't just… Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. Why don't I start explaining every that has happened from the beginning?

Earlier this morning Don once again appeared on my doorstep, with two foam coffee cups. After we'd greeted each other and I had grabbed my coat and keys, he handed me one of them on our way to his car.

"Bambino?" I asked him with a smile.

Don looked at me sideways and smirked. "Of course it is. I know how much you like them bambino's," he replied.

Once we'd reached the car he held the door open for me to get in. You know, he's a gentleman like that. I couldn't help but smile as he closed the door and walked around the front of the car to get in himself. A couple moments later, we were well on our way to the New York Crime Lab for another day of brain wrecking riddles in order to solve the Mummy case, as Danny had dubbed it. At first we didn't really talk much. I was staring out the window, taking in the streets of the best city in the world, while Don focused on the road ahead of him.

"Hey Blue Eyes," I said suddenly as I turned around to face Flack, "is Don short for anything?" Don chuckled and shook his head.

"Where is this coming from?" he asked, obviously amused by my sudden interest. "No reason. I was just curious," I replied innocently.

Flack smiled and glanced at me before shifting his attention back to the road. "I was named after my father, Donald Flack," he answered. "Hmmm, that would make you Donald Flack Junior, wouldn't it?" I deduced. "Wow, you really are smart," Don teased raising an eyebrow. I laughed at that. "Ha ha, really funny, June," I said and stuck my tongue out at him, earning me a smirk from Don.

"So how about you, Niya? Does your name mean anything?" he asked. "As a matter of fact it does," I replied with a smile, "in the Dakota language it means something like 'breath of life'," I continued. Don frowned. "Breath of life, huh? Well, at least you have a name you don't come across very often. But, I still like Jonesy a whole lot better," he commented. I couldn't help feel like this nickname was going to stick. Remind me to thank Messer for that later.

I sighed and playfully jabbed Flack in the shoulder. Don gave me a stern look at that. "Now now, Jonesy, don't be acting like my brother," he said as a playful grin spread across his face.

"You have a brother?" I asked confusedly as I narrowed my eyes at him. Don nodded as he started to ramble about how his older brother always used to tease him at the dinner table and how they'd end up play-wrestling on the floor afterwards.

But to be perfectly honest, I wasn't really listening. People always say women always intently listen when a guy is telling them something personal, but at that particular moment I couldn't focus on whatever the hell it was he was saying. And it was his own damn fault really. He just had to look so… amazingly hot! His lips were pulled up in a wide smile and his sapphire eyes sparkled as he reminisced the good old days. Damn those beautiful eyes of his that reminded me of the clear starlit skies you always see in the movies, the kind that you can imagine staring at for hours without ever feeling bored, the kind that makes you dream about the limitless possibilities that the future holds for you. I wondered if Don and I could ever share a future and the moment I did, I scolded myself. I was working with this guy for crying out loud, so no romantic involvement until the case is closed. But as soon as I saw that gorgeous smile of his again, I had to suppress the impulse to grab him by that fugly orange dotted blue tie of his, pulling him close and then…

Don seemed to have noticed that I was kind of zoned out.

"Hey Jonesy," he called out, "are you okay?" he asked. I forced back my thoughts and smiled at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a long night, that's all. I missed out on some well deserved sleep," I responded. Don looked at me questioningly. "Yeah, now that you mention it, your living room did look like you had a party last night. Popcorn, empty beer bottles. Did you have some friends over or something?" Don inquired. I frowned at that and looked at him intently. "Well yeah, actually I hung out with…" I started, but I was cut off by my ringtone. "Sorry," I told Don as I fished my cell phone out of my coat pocket and answered.

It was my dad asking how I had been and complaining about the fact that I hadn't called him for three whole days. By the time I had convinced him that I would visit him soon, Don and I had already reached the lab. As I said my goodbyes to my father, we both got out of the car and made our way inside the building.

When we had finally reached the trace lab, we found Lindsay and Sheldon standing by the door discussing something that Sheldon had just figured out.

"I was able to lift some prints off the Tupperware box containing the vic's stomach Don managed to dig up, but there was no hit in AFIS," Sheldon told Lindsay as he shrugged and shook his head. She sighed. "Well I'm afraid all I've found out since yesterday is that the wrappings we retrieved from the vic are made from high quality Egyptian linen. But that's it," she said and sighed again deeply.

"You guys do realize you sound pretty depressing, don't you?" I joked as Don and I joined them.

"The only thing that is depressing is this case," Lindsay chuckled, "and speaking of which, I'm going to get back to work and help Danny processing the gooey stuff Sid found on the body," she added and walked off into the lab.

Sheldon's eyes trailed her as she left and then focused his attention on me. "By the way, Niya, last night was a lot of fun. We should do it again sometime soon," he said with a smile, patted me on the shoulder and disappeared into the lab as well.

Don turned to face me and raised an eyebrow, disappointment evident in his eyes. "Do you mind telling me what that was about?" he asked pressingly. I stared up at him, contemplating on what to say. Not because I had anything to hide, but I didn't want him to get the wrong idea.

"We were just hanging out at my apartment and…" I started to explain, but Don harshly cut me off.

"You were hanging out? When I asked you to hang out yesterday you said you couldn't get involved with me because we are working the same case. But now all of the sudden it is okay to get involved with Hawkes?" Don exclaimed. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I knew what he was implying, but he had no idea how wrong he was. "I know what I said yesterday, Don, but it wasn't like that at all," I tried, but it was obvious Don wasn't buying it for a second.

"Listen Niya, if you had just said that you weren't interested in dating me I would've understood. Either way it doesn't matter anymore. I get the message now," he said sharply, turned on his heels and marched towards the elevator.

"But Don," I called out to him, only to see him board the elevator and leave.

And here we are, back in the present again. With me being confused, Don being furious, meaning he's been ignoring me for hours, and the Mummy case still remains unsolved. The second riddle waits for me to unravel it and if it is anything like the first, I'm going to be busting my brain over it. And something tells me June won't be there to help me out this time. But first things first. For starters I'm going to solve the riddle and after all that has been handled, I'm going to clear up whatever it is that's wrong between me and Flack.

* * *

**The Tale of Montana**

"So Niya," I asked the girl that was leaning against the gas chromatograph in the trace lab and gloomily stared into the space ahead of her, "have you translated the riddle already?" Niya looked up at me and obviously struggled to produce a faint smile. I figured that whatever went on between her and Flack definitely got to her.

"Yeah, I have managed to translate it, but I haven't quite figured it out just yet," she said as she furrowed her brows.

"Well, what do you have so far?" I asked encouragingly. Niya sighed and started pacing around the lab.

"The second riddle turned out to be a little more complicating than the first one. It says 'In the realm of the ape that is protected by she who also watches over He who came to being by Himself, you will find the gift of breath. The runner who safeguards the throne of the judge awaits where the soul of his master is seated and overlooks the cup that offers the land the fluid of life'," she started and giggled when she saw my blank face. At least the girl hadn't lost her ability to laugh.

"Let me explain what I have so far. Since the last riddle was about Duamutef I figured this one is probably about one of the other sons of Horus. I believe that ape refers to the god Hapi who was portrayed as a monkey. And by determining that I deduced that we probably need to look in the northern part of the city," she explained.

I still had no idea how in the world a girl like Niya would know about all this stuff, but I nodded in understanding nonetheless. "Okay, so what else have you got?" I inquired.

"Let me see. Hapi was supposed to be protected by the goddess Nephthys, but I have no idea who 'He who came to being by Himself' is supposed to be. The gift of breath the riddle refers to probably aims at the lungs, which is consistent with Hapi being the guardian of the lungs. But that's all for now. I think He who came to being by Himself is the key to the rest of it, but I can't figure out who the hell he is," Niya said, obviously frustrated she couldn't give me any more than that.

I gently put my hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. "Hey, you'll figure it out, Niya. I have a lot of faith in you," I comforted her. The sad look on her face melted away and was replaced by a genuine smile.

"Thank you, Lindsay," she said gratefully.

Just then Stella came walking towards us and asked Niya how she was doing on the second riddle. Niya patiently started to explain to her everything she had told me just moments before. I observed Niya as she elaborated on her discoveries to Stella. Her remarkable green eyes really stood out against her chocolate skin tone as she focused her gaze on my boss and emphasized her words by making elaborate hand gestures. My eyes shifted towards the entrance of the room when I heard footsteps enter the lab and saw Sheldon closing in on us.

"Hey guys, I think I got something here. The tissue Sid found in the victim's nose was brain tissue," he told us with an eerie voice.

Niya snorted. "No surprise there. I could've told you that," she snickered.

We all stared at her dumbfounded.

"What?" she asked confusedly. "It is a known fact that the Egyptians removed the brain by sticking a hook in the nostrils and pulling it out. It's to be expected some pieces got left behind," she said and shrugged. Sheldon sighed and let his head down. "Okay, so maybe I don't have anything new," he stated disappointedly.

Niya smiled softly, walked towards Sheldon and gave him a tight hug. "Now, now, that's not true. At least we know now that the killer used the traditional Egyptian mummification procedure. I don't think a whole lot of people would know about the rites involved, so that narrows down the possible suspects," she said encouragingly. Sheldon smiled down at her. "You know, you are almost like the little sister I never had. Thanks Niya," he said softly. Niya beamed up at him and at that particular moment Danny and Flack walked in.

The minute Don saw Niya and Sheldon his eyes grew dark, he did a 180 and strode off.

Niya lowered her head and let go of Sheldon. Stella sighed and gave Niya a stern look. "Okay, what's the deal with you and Flack?" she pressed.

"I don't know what the hell his problem is," Niya shot back. Danny, however, looked at her accusingly.

"Okay, maybe I do know what his problem is. But if he'd just stop running away every time he sees me, then maybe we could work it out," she defended. "Now can we stop talking about whatever is not happening between me and Don and focus a little more on the case?" she snapped. "Sure," Stella said and put a hand on Niya's shoulder,

"I compared the vic's DNA to the DNA from the stomach cells you and…uhm, Mac found and it's a match. So at least we know that no one else is missing a stomach." In the meanwhile I walked over to the computer that was connected with the gas chromatograph and looked at the profile shown on the screen. "Danny and I ran the gooey stuff Sid found through the GC/MS and we have something here. The substance consists of animal fat, bee wax, diterpenic resins and castor oil," I stated. Niya squinted.

"That sounds like embalming fluid to me," she commented, "but not the kind that is sold in stores. They usually don't use animal fats in the commercially sold embalming products, so this batch is probably homemade by the killer."

Stella smiled and shook her head. "Have you ever considered a career in forensics, Niya?" she asked in an amused tone.

"It never crossed my mind," Niya retorted surprised.

"Well maybe you should think about it," I aided Stella. Niya laughed out loud and vigorously shook her head. "I don't think so. I don't have a degree and frankly I really don't feel like going back to college," she replied. "College isn't everything," Stella pressed, "and besides, the knowledge you already possess turns out to be priceless in this case. What you need is training and I would be more than happy to discuss that with Mac." Niya sighed. "You know what, I'll think about it, okay?" she caved as Stella replied with a triumphant smile.

I shook my head while I watched them. Stella was right. I too had the feeling that Niya would be a great CSI. Her attention to detail was remarkable and she had a great deal of background knowledge about I don't know how many fields. And she definitely had the balls required to do a job like this. After interrogating her during the Mayer case, Danny had told me all about the girl who had put him in his place and had Don blushing like high school boy. He had been furious over the fact she had had the nerve to call him Goggles and Four Eyes, but it was obvious he respected her nonetheless.

At that exact moment, Adam Ross walked in the room, flipping through a file and mumbling something that seemed to be a song.

"With these final words, I pull the switch. We turn to dust, dust to dust," I heard him sing, walking towards the GC/MS as we all stared at him dumbfounded.

"My name is like the kiss of death, then we embrace. We turn to dust. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," his voice trailed off as he peered at the screen. Niya's green eyes grew wide and her mouth fell open as she stared at Adam.

"You!" she exclaimed pointing a finger at Adam while she quickly moved towards him.

"I love you!" she practically yelled before cupping his face and kissing him full on the lips. Poor Adam froze in shock and hell, I couldn't even blame him. Niya pulled back, spun around and happily faced the rest of us.

"I can't believe I didn't figure this one out any sooner. I mean, what was I thinking?" she said shaking her head. I had no idea what she was blabbing about, but I had the feeling she was about to tell us. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. It all makes sense now. He came to being by Himself is a phoenix. The phoenix burns to death and is born once again out of the ashes," Niya rambled. "And Nephthys, who protected Hapi, also protected the Bennu, the Egyptian equivalent of the phoenix. That all covers the first part of the riddle," she resumed.

Danny and I glanced at each other and I giggled when I saw the look on his face. It seemed that he was getting exhausted just trying to understand where Niya was getting all of this.

"Well that's impressive, but what about the rest?" Stella informed.

Niya beamed at her from across the room, where Adam was still cemented to the floor. "I was just getting to that. The Bennu is sometimes considered to be the soul of Osiris, the judge of the underworld and it just so happens to be Hapi's job to protect Osiris' throne. So all that remains of the riddle is that we will find the lungs there were the Bennu is seated and overlooks the cup that offers the land the fluid of life," Niya continued. I squinted at that. "The fluid of life? That wouldn't be water by any chance, would it?" I asked no one in particular.

"Exactly," Niya chimed and smiled at me, "You're getting the hang of this, Linds. What we're looking for is basically a stone pillar near a pond or river in the northern part of the city," she concluded.

"Boom! The northernmost borough in the city is the Bronx," Danny stated, "but, still the Bronx is pretty big, Indiana." Niya nodded slowly. "I think we can narrow the perimeter down to a single neighborhood though. Hapi was often associated with the annual flooding of the river Nile, so I say we start looking…" Niya's voice trailed off.

"In Riverdale, the Bronx," I finished for her. Niya nodded approvingly.

"If that's so, you might want to start at Wave Hill. The garden happens to be next to the Hudson River," Adam suddenly said.

Niya looked him curiously. "And who might you be?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Adam swallowed forcefully.

"I-I-I'm Adam Ross," he managed to choke out. "Well Adam Ross, I'm Niya Hayes," she said as she shook his hand, "and about that kiss thing earlier, it wasn't personal," she added with a wink. "Of course it wasn't," Adam responded and I could've sworn I heard some disappointment in his voice.

Poor guy.

* * *

**The Tale of Goggles**

It was already late in the afternoon by the time Stella, Indiana and I were walking through Wave Hill Gardens, trying to find the part of it that bordered the Hudson. Stella and I had been chattering away in the car on our way to the Bronx, but Indy had sat in the back, quietly staring out of the window and not saying a word.

Earlier, when Flack had told me what had happened between the two of them that morning, I had just assumed that Niya was into Hawkes and had hidden the truth in order to spare Don's feelings. But now I wasn't so sure. She seemed to be just as miserable as Don had been when I'd last seen him a few of hours ago. If it was Hawkes she had feelings for, it shouldn't have bothered her that much that Flack was mad at her. But speculating wouldn't get me anywhere. I slowed down my pace and waited until Indiana, who had been walking behind Stella and me, had caught up.

"Let me ask you something, Indy. What's going on between you and Hawkes?" I asked her as we walked side by side, a few feet behind Stella.

"So he told you, huh?" Niya snorted.

"Yeah, he did. But now I'm asking you for your side of the story," I said calmly. If I had learned anything from our past encounters, it was that Niya was a girl that needed to be approached with caution.

"Danny, Sheldon and I, we're just friends. And if Don had just taken the time to listen to me, he would've known that. This is exactly the reason why I don't get involved with men I'm working with," she retorted bitterly. I sighed and looked up at the grey sky above us.

"There is something you should know about him," I stated. Niya looked at me suspiciously out of the corner of her eye. "And what's that?" she asked inquisitively. I took a deep breath before continuing. "A while ago Don dated this girl. Now, he isn't the type of guy to talk about his feelings a lot, but everybody could see the two of them cared a lot about each other," I started. "Then why did they break up?" Indiana inquired, her voice being gentler this time. "They didn't," I answered sadly, "she died. She was a detective, much like Don, and she was killed on duty. Don has had a hard time dealing with her death. Hell, we all did. We had all worked with her, we all loved her, but her death struck Don the hardest. I wouldn't have thought that Don would have feelings for another girl just yet, but now it seems that he does," I continued.

Niya didn't reply and I glanced sideward looking for any kind of reaction from her. My face softened when I saw the expression on hers. Her eyes were dark and she frowned as she lowered her head. "I didn't know about that," she whispered.

I stood still and put a hand on Niya's shoulder to stop her as well. "I know you didn't. But don't you think that Don might have gotten this upset because his feelings for you caught him a little off guard as well?" I asked her as I softly lifted up her chin with a finger. She closed her eyes, slowly turned her head away and sighed.

"I guess," she murmured while opening her eyes again.

"Hey guys, I think we're here," I heard Stella call out from in front of us. When I looked around I saw we were indeed right next to the Hudson River.

Niya scanned the surroundings as well and walked Stella's way. "Keep your eyes open and look for a stone pillar and a dead white goose," Niya instructed as she started to walk along the river. It might have been about half an hour, before I heard Stella calling for Indiana and I to come over to where she was. Sure enough a few feet away from her was a five-foot high pillar with the remains of a bird at the base of it. "I'd say we have a dead goose right here, wouldn't you?" she asked with a smirk when we caught up with her.

"The runner who safeguards the throne of the judge awaits where the soul of his master is seated and overlooks the cup that offers the land the fluid of life. This is it," Niya said and turned to me with a devilish grin. "Doesn't that mean that you have some digging to do Messer?" she teased. I huffed as I waited for Stella to bag the goose and reluctantly started digging.

Stella moved a few feet away and squatted down next to something that had caught her attention. "These leaves here look a little out of place," she stated.

Niya furrowed her brows and bend over in order to inspect the leaves Stella was pointing at. "Those look like sycamore leaves, but I didn't see any sycamores around here," she observed.

"Wasn't the stomach found underneath a sycamore?" I asked while I wiped some sweat away from my face. The physical labor this job requires is gravely underrated, you know.

Niya nodded and Stella pulled out an evidence bag. "It's seems we found ourselves some more trace," she said and put the leaves and some soil in it. Just then my shovel hit something hard. "I have a feeling that's not all we found, guys."

* * *

**The Tale of Prince Charming**

For about an hour and forty-eight minutes I had been staring at my computer screen. I was attempting to round up a case report that had been on my desk for the past two weeks, but somehow all I had done all this time was read the first line about 127 times, over and over again.

Somehow I couldn't focus on anything other than the frustration I was feeling inside of me. Even though I'd only known Niya for a short while, I couldn't help but feel betrayed by her. I had taken her for a girl who was upfront about everything, always straight, always honest. But she had quite cleverly talked her way out of an awkward situation when I'd been stupid enough to ask her out the other day. And what did I expect really? I mean, one look at the girl and I should have known that she wasn't for me. But something about the way she looked at me and smiled at me, had told me a different story. She made me feel like anything was possible, that anything could happen to anyone, that a girl like her could fall for a guy like me. But now I'm reminded of a sobering fact. That dreams are meant for sleeping. In real life the princess doesn't fall in love with the frog. It just doesn't happen.

But being completely honest, the thing that angered me most was the realization that by allowing myself to fall for Niya, I was letting go of Jess at the same time. And I felt damn guilty because of it. Was I allowed to be happy again with another woman? Was it too soon? I was aware of the fact that I had to get over Jess sooner or later and I had been willing to do that for Niya. And as it turned out, she didn't feel the same way about me. So yes I was disappointed. And hurt.

I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn't even hear the footsteps that were approaching me. I didn't see someone sitting down on the corner of my desk because my eyes were still glued to the computer.

"Don?" I heard a soft voice say in the distance. It sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite put a finger on it.

"Don, are you… okay?" the voice asked worriedly.

I blinked a couple of times and realized that it was Niya who was sitting on my desk. "What are you doing here?" I snapped and glared at her as I stood up.

Niya got up from the desk as well and forced me back down in my chair. "Oh no. Not this time. You're done running away from me, Flack. We're going to work this out," she said, her eyes burning with determination. I growled and let out a frustrated sigh. "Aren't you supposed to be with Sheldon or something?" I asked cynically. Niya's green eyes glistened for a moment. Suddenly she leaned over and laid one hand on my chest, right over my heart, and placed the other gently on my cheek.

"Don, I need you to hear me," she said as she placed my right hand over her own heart. "I didn't trick you and I didn't betray you. Sheldon and I, we're just friends. We just have this connection. It seems like I've known him for years. It is so easy to talk to him and I've told him things I haven't even considered telling anybody else," she explained. I snorted.

"Is this supposed to make me feel better?" I mocked her. "What is it that made it okay to get involved with Hawkes but not with me?" I questioned. Niya exhaled deeply.

"Sheldon is safe," she simply stated.

"Safe? What the heck is that supposed to mean?" I exclaimed. I realized we were starting to draw attention to ourselves, when I saw several detectives looking our way after hearing my raised voice. Niya started to breath heavily and through my hand I could feel her heart rate speed up. My own heart started racing as well when her emerald eyes pierced deep into my own.

"Sheldon is safe," Niya said calmer than I had expected her to, "because no matter how close we get, I know that I will never fall in love with him. But you, Donald Flack, are a whole different story." She barely whispered the last part, but it didn't matter. I'd heard her loud and clear.

"Say what?" I asked, anxious to get the answer I was hoping for.

"Unlike Sheldon, you are not safe at all. The minute I laid my eyes on you, I was done for. I'm in love with you, Don Flack. And all I can really do now is hope that you won't break my heart," she said, her eyes full of emotion.

My heart skipped a beat when I heard her say those words and I could feel that her heart did pretty much the same. And at that moment all my frustration disappeared and was replaced by another feeling. It was like a wave of heat flowing throughout my body and all of the warmth gathered in my heart, causing it to swell up to a point where I felt like my chest could no longer contain it. It was a feeling I hadn't felt for a woman in quite some time. A feeling I hadn't expected myself to feel anywhere in the near future. But I did feel it.

"Don?" Niya whispered. "This is the moment where you're supposed to say something," she whispered in my ear.

I didn't respond, but instead I raised my hands to gently cup her face and looked deeply into her eyes. "You know what, Niya? Sometimes words just don't cut it," I said, pulled her in close and did what I should've done the day I met her.

And nothing could've ever felt better than the feeling I had seeing the stunned look in her eyes the moment I kissed her.


	5. Chapter 5 Liberty stands still

**Author Notes: Here's is the long awaited chapter 5 of WDYHTY! I honestly can't believe how long it has taken me to get this out!! Shame on me!! The good news is that I some bitchin' ideas for new stories and one shots (now all I need to do is write them :P)... I hope this chap is a little more readable... I chopped the paragraphs up in manageble pieces, so let me know what you think...**

**Again, feel free to message and review. I'm open to anything that will help improve my writing. But if you just want to tell me how awesome the story is, that fine too! I'd really like to know how i'm doing so far...**

**A special thanks to everyone who added my story as a favorite and my amazing reviewers! Again, it is very much appreciated!**

**In chapter 5, Don and Niya deal with the aftermath of their first kiss... Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Other than the amazing Niya Hayes, I don't own anything...**

**

* * *

****Chapter 5 – Liberty stands still**

Can't believe it's happening, I just fell in love again  
How can I just make you see ,baby, you're my destiny  
Promise me we'll never end cause your love is heaven sent  
Every breath I take  
Will you be there in my heart cause I never wanna part  
Every step I make  
Will you be right by my side cause without you it ain't right  
Girl it might seem that I'm insecure, baby I've been hurt before  
I want you to know that I'm into it, get into me  
As long as you love me promise me your love  
I will be there every breath you take  
**Every Breath - Gio**

* * *

If such a thing as the perfect kiss existed, this would be it. Words fell short to describe what Niya was feeling at that particular moment. Her heart was racing at 180 miles per hour, a million thoughts whirled through her mind and her body felt like it was going to burst if Don ever made the unfortunate decision to break their kiss.

It was at that moment that she realized exactly how much she had wanted this. How much she had wanted him. And it didn't make any sense at all. She hardly knew him. She didn't know about his past and she didn't know about his dreams for the future. She didn't know what drove him, what his ambitions were, what he wanted to be when he grew up or what his favorite color was.

But did all that really matter? After all, she could get to know him now. Who cared they were temporarily working together? They were both strong and independent adults who were perfectly able to sort out their differences and besides, Niya had a really good feeling about this.

Somehow the idea of Don and her being together just seemed right, like that was the way things were supposed to be. She was tired of being scared and cautious, always making sure she wouldn't get her heart broken. But she wasn't afraid anymore. She knew that Don wouldn't hurt her, she could feel it. She could tell by the way he kissed her. Her father was right. She finally understood what he had been trying to tell her.

* * *

"_Don't worry, Apple," her father said as he gently stroke Niya's head. "Right now it might feel like you're never going to recover, but I promise you the feeling will pass." _

_Niya snorted and turned her head away to look out the window of her childhood bedroom. She sat there on her bed in her baggy sweatpants and an oversized sweater, her eyes red and swollen from her tears while she was hugging her favorite teddy bear. "I don't get what I did wrong," she sniffled, "I had the perfect boyfriend and I still managed to mess up. My mind was telling me that this was the perfect guy, but I never did manage to get my heart to agree." Her father totted, shook his head and pulled his daughter against his chest as she started sobbing.  
__  
"There is something you need to understand, Apple. Don't make decisions with your mind, Darling, but with your heart. Your mind is there to understand your decisions, not to make them. Listen, sometimes two people just don't work together. It's not because there's something wrong with either one of them, it's just that the combination of the two of them isn't right. Take you and Ty for example. I'm sure quite a number of ladies would describe him as the perfect man, and to be perfectly honest, I considered him to be the perfect son-in-law. And trust me when I say it takes a lot for a father to state that," he said as he poked his daughter in the shoulder._

_"Dad," Niya whined, "this isn't really helping, you know," she choked out, still sobbing her eyes out. _

_"What I was going to say is that it doesn't matter whether or not I thought Ty was perfect, because it was never about me. It was about you. Promise me you won't settle for a young man who everybody else considers to be perfect. Find someone who is perfect for you, Niya," he said solemnly as he lifted up her chin with one hand and wiped the tears of her cheek with the other. Niya stared at her father confusedly with her big green eyes. _

_"Someone who is perfect for me? But how will I know when I've found him?" she asked, her voice slightly above a whisper. _

_Her father laughed heartily and kissed Niya on the forehead. "Trust me, Apple, you'll know. When you look at him, you will know. When you kiss him, you will know. Your heart will tell you."_

* * *

Niya smiled onto Don's lips at the memory of her father words.

"What?" Don asked, never moving his lips from Niya's.

Her smile grew even wider as she opened her eyes and pulled back a little. "June, people are watching," she whispered. "So what? No matter where you are or what you do, people are always going to watch you, Niya," he teased and reeled her back in. Just before their lips touched, Niya smirked and defiantly looked him in the eyes. "You do realize you're still at the precinct right, and that you're supposed to working?" she stated as she raised an eyebrow.

Don's eyes shot open as he glanced around the room, only to see he was indeed still sitting behind his desk and about a dozen detectives were curiously following the scene that was unfolding between him and Niya. "Yeah, you got a point there, Jonesy," he said after scraping his throat loudly. Niya stood up and sat back on Flack's desk.

"So uhm, what happens now?" she said softly. Don frowned and narrowed his eyes at Niya.

"What do you want to happen?" he asked her mysteriously.

Niya replied by giving him a suggestive smirk. "What I want," she started as she hopped off his desk and put her lips to his ear, "is all of you," she breathed.

Shivers ran down Don's spine not only because of the sensation of her being so close to him, but also the fact that she had so openly stated her desires. "All of me?" he chuckled.

"Uhuh, all of you. All of your perks, all of your quirks and all of your imperfections. I'll take it all," Niya stated, her voice full of emotion. "Well, why wait? If you just wait for me to shut down my computer we can go somewhere to… Wait, did you just say imperfections? What makes you think I have any?" Don complained with a playful pout, earning himself a warm smile from Niya.

"There, there, you don't have to worry. I don't want the perfect guy anyway. I want I guy who is perfect for me and I think you might be just that," she assured him. "And as for us going somewhere, I would love to, but aren't you supposed to meet Danny at Sully's tonight?" she inquired. Don sighed deeply and rubbed his face in frustration. "Hey, look at it from the bright side," Niya attempted to cheer him up.

"We have the whole rest of our lives to figure out where all this is going."

* * *

"You're late," Danny said when Don plopped down on the barstool next to him. He had been waiting for his friend for twenty minutes and was dying to find out what had kept him so long. He took another swig of his beer and turned his head to shoot Flack a questioning look. A grin spread across his face when he saw the excitement that practically radiated from Don. Danny straightened his back and leaned closer to Don. "You better start talking fast, buddy! What happened?" he pried.

Don grinned and shrugged as he ordered himself a beer as well, only to receive a punch in the shoulder by a very curious Danny. "Okay, okay, easy. I'm sorry I'm late. I, uhm, got held up at the precinct," Flack said mysteriously. "And…" Danny encouraged him to continue. Don took a sip of his drink and demonstratively put down the bottle. "Niya came to pay me a visit," he started and chuckled when he saw the anticipation on Danny's face.

"She wanted to clear things up between us. She explained the deal between her and Hawkes, said that they're just friends and that it's me she's in love with," he continued.

Messer's eyes grew wide as his mouth feel open in shock. "She admitted that she's in love with you? Indiana? Man, what did you tell her?" Danny asked, anxious to know more. "I didn't say anything," Don answered as he had some more beer. Danny, who had just taken a swig, spurted out half of a mouthful. "You didn't say anything?" he inquired disbelievingly. Don shook his head before turning to his friend.

"I kissed her."

At first Danny just stared at Flack blankly and then started laughing heartily while shaking his head. "Man, I am so happy for you. I didn't think you'd actually grow the balls to make a move on her like that, but I'm glad you did," Danny said and patted Don on the shoulder.

"So, what happens now? Are you guys together or what?" Danny asked. Don frowned as he twisted the bottle in front of him. "To be honest I'm not sure. I mean, I think so. I just have a hard time believing all this is happening so fast. But I'm going to find out tomorrow," he said while he nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm going to ask her out tomorrow," he told Danny with a determined voice. Messer smiled and took another sip of the bitter goodness in his hand.

"You do that, Flack. You do just that."

* * *

It was almost 11:45 in the evening and Niya sat on her couch, her legs pulled up underneath her and paperwork and mythology books surrounding her. She was determined to stop swooning over Don Flack if only for a short while in order to actually do something productive, like unraveling the third riddle. And to Niya's surprise this riddle, unlike the others, wasn't all that challenging.

"The time has come for he who was not shown mercy by She who tightens the throat, to travel to the domain of the hawk that reassembles, and kiss the feet of the freedom that enlightens the world. The Righteous Lady proudly stands where Nun encircles Geb," Niya cited the end product of her translation. "She who tightens the throat," she mumbled as she frowned and dug through her mind in search of a reference. "That would most likely Serket, the goddess of poisons. He who was not shown mercy would then be the victim," she deduced, "but Mac didn't say anything to me about the victim being poisoned. I guess I'll just ask him about it tomorrow," Niya mumbled to herself.

She was just about to tackle the rest of it, when the doorbell rang. Niya got up, wondering who it could be and as she made her way to the front door, she caught herself hoping it was Don. It wasn't. When she had enthusiastically swung open the door, she had come face to face with her buddy, Sheldon Hawkes.

"Hey," he said as he walked past her, made his way into her living room and plopped down on the couch.

"Hey to you too, Shelly. Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?" she asked curiously. Sheldon frowned as he took of his shoes and feigned a hurt expression. "Do I need a reason for wanting to see my newfound best friend?" he teased.

Niya stuck out her tongue, walked into her kitchen and opened to refrigerator to get Sheldon a drink.

"So what were you doing before I showed up?" he inquired as Niya handed him a glass of coke. Niya shrugged as she sat down next to him and laid her head on his shoulder. "Nothing much. I was just working on the third riddle," she murmured. "And how's that going?" he asked, while placing an arm around Niya's shoulder. "It's okay. I think I got all of it, but I'll tell you guys all about it tomorrow," she replied.

Sheldon nodded, reached out to the remote on the coffee table, turned on the TV and kept switching channels until he found himself a live basketball match. Niya moaned in protest, earning herself a nudge in the shoulder by her friend. "Hey, if you love me, you'll let me watch," he said as he gave her a playful grin. "Whatever," she grunted. Sheldon chuckled in triumph and turned his attention to the game.

"So, did you and Flack kiss and make up already, because all that tension between the two of you isn't healthy. And I should know, being a doctor and all," he rambled.

Niya giggled at that. "Well, the truth is that we did kiss and make up, although not exactly in that order," she retorted. Sheldon raised his eyebrows and a smile spread across his face.

"See, I told you everything would be fine. What were you guys fighting about in the first place?" Niya snorted. "We were fighting about you, dumbass. Don thought I had a crush on you," Niya said, shaking her head. Sheldon grimaced and shook his head as well. "Now that would be really disturbing," he mumbled, "anyways, are you two together now or what?"

Niya bit her lip. "Sort of. I guess we'll find out tomorrow."

* * *

The next morning was the very first time Niya Hayes walked in the New York Crime Lab without Don Flack. It had been the first time Don hadn't come to pick her up, and instead she and Sheldon, who had spent the night with her, had made their way to the lab together. And unlike her friend who had slept all night like a baby, Niya had been twisting and turning in her bed, reliving the kiss Don and she had shared over and over again. She couldn't stop thinking about him and she couldn't ignore the damn butterflies that were having a whirl-fest in her stomach. Niya had been in relationships before, but never had she felt this kind of infatuation. She had always envied her friends who talked about how madly and deeply and uncontrollably in love they were with their boyfriends. Niya had wanted to experience that same high, but it had never happened to her. Until then, that is. Don had an effect on her that no other guy had triggered before and it was for the first time in her life that Niya felt such a strong need to be with someone.

"Niya?" she heard a distant voice say.

"Is she okay?" the voice asked. "She's fine," Sheldon answered.

Niya shook her head and blinked a couple of times before coming face to face with Mac's curious gaze.

"Oh, good morning Mac," she said as she gave him an apologetic smile, "I kind of zoned out for a minute." Mac laughed and gave her a curt nod. "It's fine, Niya. Sheldon told me you've already solved the third riddle," he said approvingly. "Yeah, about that," Niya started, "I was wondering if maybe, since I'm on the case and all, I could see the case file." Mac gave her a soft smile and handed her a folder. "Knock yourself out," he said as Niya took it.

* * *

"Mac, can I talk to you for a second?" Niya asked as she stuck her head in Mac's office. Mac looked up from the paperwork he had been processing and motioned for her to come in. Niya walked up the hardwood desk with the case file in her hand.

"I have had a look at this," she said while tapping the folder on the desk, "and I find myself to be a little puzzled. According to this information your vic, Hani Barakat, worked for Amir Kamal and was the prime suspect in the disappearance of Kamal's daughter." Mac nodded. "That would be correct. What's your point?" he asked suspiciously.

"You do realize that Barakat was mummified and that we have been provided Egyptian riddles to find his missing organs, right? Mac, Amir Kamal is an Egyptologist!" Niya exclaimed.

Mac sighed, stood up and walked towards the window. "I'm very well aware of that, Niya. You have amazing insight, I'll give you that, but there is more to this than just hunches. Hunches won't get a man convicted, evidence does. We need evidence, Niya," he told her sternly.

"I know that, Mac. I'm not saying that Kamal is our guy. What I'm asking is why haven't you brought him in yet? When Devon Mayer was killed, you guys interrogated me just because some people said they saw me with him, and even though there wasn't a trace of me in his apartment, you acted upon that lead," she argued.

"Hey," Sheldon said as he walked into the office, "Mac, I got a lead. Remember that Lindsay found out that the vic's wrapping were high quality Egyptian linen? Well I just traced a purchase back to a credit card belonging to an Amir Kamal," he stated. Niya raised an eyebrow at Mac and smiled triumphantly as Mac shook his head in disbelieve.

"You never cease to amaze, do you, Niya?" Mac chuckled.

"No, never," Niya teased.

"Well then," Mac sighed, "let's bring Mr. Kamal in for a chat."

* * *

Amir Kamal sat nervously on a chair in the interrogation room as Mac sat across from him, gazing at him intently, and Don circled around the both of them. "I'm wondering," Don said as he leaned against the wall next to the door, "how do you explain that Hani Barakat was wrapped up in the same kind of Egyptian linen that you ordered using your credit card?" Kamal huffed and crossed his arms.

"I do not know. I ordered the linen to make some bed sheets. Nothing enables for a better night's sleep than Egyptian linen. For the past 40 years I haven't slept on anything else," he stated.

"And it doesn't faze you at all that the prime suspect in your daughter's disappearance is dead?" Mac inquired.

Kamal squinted and leaned forward over the table. "If you're wondering whether or not I feel sorry for Hani, then the answer is no. No matter what you people tell me, I know in my heart that he is the one who is responsible for Monira's disappearance. But I would never have harmed him. I believe that God gives every man his just reward in the end, and because of that I do not feel the need to interfere with His plans," he said calmly.

Behind the glass mirror, Stella and Niya followed the interrogation. "I don't think he did it, Stella," Niya said softly. Stella glanced at the girl next to her. "We'll just have to wait and see. And speaking of seeing, from what I hear you've been seen causing quite the uproar at the precinct yesterday," she teased with a wink. Niya's face went blank before she uncomfortably shifted her feet.

"You heard about that?" she asked cautiously.

"Are you kidding me? Everybody has heard about that," Stella giggled. Niya groaned and Stella turned to place a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Well, Niya, I for one am happy that all the drama between you and Flack is over. I wish the two of you all the best," she said as she softly smiled at the chocolate skinned girl in front of her.

"Thank you, Stella," Niya replied gratefully as she looked through the glass and stared at the man that had swept her off her feet.

* * *

"So what do you guys think? Did he do it?" Lindsay asked Stella and Mac. "I'm not sure," Stella replied as she shrugged. "I don't think so," Niya responded, "it just doesn't add up. Kamal doesn't have to mindset to kill and I don't believe he has the skills to have removed the organs with surgical precision either. I don't think he's the one," she concluded.

"Niya, we have talked about hunches, remember?" Mac scolded her. Niya sighed and apologetically nodded her head.

"Hey, by the way, Niya, didn't you say you solved the third riddle? I think it's about time to go and pick up some more organs," Danny cut in. Niya nodded. "Yeah, I did solve it. It said 'the time has come for he who was not shown mercy by She who tightens the throat, to travel to the domain of the hawk that reassembles, and kiss the feet of the freedom that enlightens the world. The Righteous Lady proudly stands where Nun encircles Geb'," she quoted.

"Okay," Lindsay said, "but what does that mean?"

Niya smiled at her. "Well to be honest this one was quite straightforward. He who was not shown mercy is the victim and She who tightens the throat is Serket, was the goddess of natural poisons. Since our victim was poisoned, Serket obviously didn't show him any mercy. The hawk refers to yet another son of Horus, Qebehsenuef, who reigns over the west and is the protector of the intestines. He was also in charge of putting all the organs from the canopic jars back in the body of the deceased. And the freedom that enlightens the world? Any New Yorker ought to know that," Niya stated.

"The Liberty that Enlightens the World. That's the official name of the Statue of Liberty," Mac added.

"Exactly, the Righteous Lady is Lady Liberty and the place where Nun, the ocean, encircles Geb, the earth, would be an island. As messed up as it sounds, I think Hani's intestines are buried at the base of the Statue of Liberty," Niya concluded.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Danny exclaimed as he vigorously shook his head. "That is just too sick!"

Stella nodded in agreement and Lindsay's face contorted with disgust. "It is sickening and the sooner we get this guy, the better," Mac said as he grabbed his coat, ready to head to Liberty Island, Manhattan.

* * *

It was early in the afternoon by the time Mac, Niya and Lindsay stepped off the boat that had taken them to Liberty Island. The November air was cold and dark clouds hovered menacingly over the city of New York. "Let's not stay out here any longer than is needed," Mac said as he blew in his hands in an attempt to warm them and strode off towards the statue. Lindsay and Niya walked a few feet behind him, pulling their coats closer around themselves and digging their hands in their pockets, desperate to keep the cold at bay.

"So uhm, Niya. About you and Don…" Lindsay started slowly.

Niya stopped dead in her tracks and raised one of her eyebrows. "Who told you?" she asked as she started walking again.

"Don't worry. I didn't pick up on it through office gossip," Lindsay giggled, "Don told Danny and Danny told me."

A small smile crept on Niya's face. Just mentioning Don's name set her heart on fire. "Well, what about us?" she asked the brown haired woman walking next to her. Lindsay sighed deeply before she replied. "How do you feel about him?" she inquired as she gave Niya a sideward glance.

"I'm not sure what I'm feeling," Niya replied, her smile growing wider, "because I've honestly never felt this way before. This whole thing is new to me. But what I do know is that it feels really good. Being with Don feels really good."

Lindsay smiled back at her. She could tell that Niya was telling the truth and that she was really into Don. But still there was one thing she wanted, no, needed to say. "That's great. I'm really happy for you and Flack. But I need you to promise me something," she said. "I care a lot about Don and he has been through a lot lately. He has been hurting pretty badly and I don't ever want to see him like that again. I need you to promise me that you won't hurt him."

Niya stopped walking again and gently pulled Lindsay's arm to stop her as well. "Lindsay, I know you care about Don. I know that all of you do. And I know about his last girlfriend and what happened to her. I'm glad that Don has people like you who are looking out for him and have his best interest at heart, but I'm not planning on hurting him. Not by a long shot," she assured her.

Lindsay looked at Niya intently. Her usually strong, vibrant eyes were now a soft shade of green and her entire face seemed to sparkle. The sincerity practically beamed from her entire being. Niya smiled again and then started pulling Lindsay with her as she tried to catch up with Mac, who was turning into a tiny dot in the distance.

"Don't worry, Lindsay, it's going to be fine. Now Let's hurry up before we freeze to death!"

* * *

"Hey guys, is that what I think it is?" Lindsay said as she pointed to a white object on the ground a few feet away from them. "If you're thinking that it is a dead goose, then yes," Niya stated bluntly as the three of them approach the remains of the poor animal. Mac squinted while inspecting the scene and squatted near the goose.

"The soil over here is disturbed. This is definitely the place," he said, then got up and walked about three feet away towards something that had caught his eye. "I got a shoe print here," he called out to the others as he grabbed his camera to take some photos.

Lindsay opened her toolbox and took out a plastic container and some bottles. "What's all that for?" Niya asked curiously. "This," Lindsay started, "is for casting. We make a mold of the shoe and use it for future reference." Niya studied Lindsay carefully as she continued to prepare the cast and handed the emulsion to Mac, who placed a metal frame around the print and then poured the cast over the impression in the soil. While it hardened, he walked over to the two women.

"Well ladies, which one of you would like to dig up the treasure today?" Mac asked with a smirk. Lindsay took a step back, crossed her arms in front of her and shook her head. "Nuh-uh! I don't think so," she said quickly. Mac shot Niya a look and held out the shovel to her, but she folded her arms and shifted her weight to her left leg. "I think I'm going to pass for this one," she replied with a smirk of her own.

"So much for emancipation," Mac muttered as he shook his head and started digging.

* * *

"Welcome back," Sheldon said when Niya, Lindsay and Mac arrived at the lab. "Did you guys have fun?" he asked, his lips pulled up in a mischievous smile. Niya shot him a poisonous look as she rubbed her arms trying to warm herself. "Are you kidding me? It's freezing out there," she mumbled as she gratefully took the cup of tea that her friend handed her.

"Hey! I want one of those," Lindsay complained with a playful pout. Sheldon chuckled, poured some hot tea for her as well and sat down with them.

"But seriously, what did you guys find out there?" he inquired.

Niya blew on her tea and carefully took a sip. She sighed contently as she felt the warm liquid run down her throat and warm her up on the inside. "Nothing much. Dead goose, guts and a shoe print. Did you guys get anything new?" she responded.

"Sort of," they heard Danny, who just walked in, say. "Stella matched the DNA to the lungs to the vic and I did an elemental analysis on the ink that was used on the papyrus. I was thinking that maybe we can find a reference sample at the suspect's house. That is if we ever find a suspect," he ended bitterly.

"Uhm, well I-I-I got something too," Adam's voice sounded from the doorway. "I ran a GC/MS profile on the linen wrappings and I found traces of incense. I don't know if that helps," he said while looking around the room at his colleagues.

When his eyes met Niya's he averted his gaze to the floor, causing Niya to smile and walk towards him. "It does help, Adam. Usually bodies were ritually cleansed with water and incense, so whoever was the killer definitely knew what he was doing," she told him as she gently placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a soft squeeze. Adam smiled shyly and Niya walked back to the table to get another sip of her tea.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?" Hawkes asked Niya as she was putting on her coat and gathered her stuff to leave the lab. Niya sighed and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"No, Shelly. I'll be fine," she reassured him and gave him kiss on his cheek and hugged him tightly. "I'll see you later," she said as she let go and walked towards the elevators. She pushed the button and patiently waited for the doors to open.

Once out of the building she walked down the steps. A little too fast, that is. Before Niya realized what was happening, she tripped and went flying to the ground. "Oh shit!" she exclaimed as she braced herself for the impact. But it never came. Instead she felt a strong hand getting a hold of her arm as it pulled her back up.

"Don't worry," she heard a familiar voice say that lit up her heart instantly, "I got you."

Niya looked up and was greeted by a pair of piercing sapphire eyes.

"I guess you do have me," she whispered as Don helped her to regain her footing.

"Why were you in such a hurry?" he asked curiously as he reluctantly let go of her arm. "Hmmm," Niya murmured, still lost in his eyes. She had to mentally slap herself to get herself back together. "I was just heading home. I figured I'd solve the final riddle and get this case over with," she said. "Right," Don answered and uncomfortably looked away. "Listen, I was thinking that maybe we could go out to dinner later tonight and talk about… things. What do you think?" he asked nervously as he faced Niya again.

"I'm thinking no," she replied.

Don sighed deeply in frustration and got even more frustrated seeing the smile on Niya's face.

"Relax," she giggled, placing a gentle hand on his cheek, "I'm not blowing you off. It's just that I've got a better idea." Don smirked and raised an eyebrow as Niya brought her face closer to his. "Why don't you come over to my apartment later tonight so we can… hang out?" she whispered. She was so close that Flack could feel her warm breath on his lips. "You know that doesn't sound half bad," he replied. "Good," she beamed up at him, "and, uhm, bring something casual to wear," she added with a smirk. "What?" Don asked confusedly only to see Niya turn around, blowing him a kiss as she walked down the stairs and took off.


	6. Chapter 6 Deliver us from evil

**Author Notes: Guess who's back with a brand new chapter! Finally Chapter 6 is out... YAY! After all the heaps of schoolwork, computer viruses eating my stories , eye surgery and pure laziness I have finally been resurrected...  
**

**Again, feel free to message and review. I'm open to anything that will help improve my writing. But if you just want to tell me how awesome the story is, that fine too! I'd really like to know how i'm doing so far...**

**A special thanks to everyone who added my story as a favorite and my amazing reviewers! Again, it is very much appreciated!**

**In chapter 6, Niya solves the final riddle and the Mummy Case comes to an epic conclusion. Will Don and Niya finally get their long awaited first date? Enjoy!  
**

**Disclaimer: Other than the amazing Niya Hayes, I don't own anything...**

* * *

**Chapter 6 – Deliver us from evil**

I'd give up forever to touch you,  
Cause I know that you feel me somehow.  
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be,  
And I don't want to go home right now.  
And all I can taste is this moment,  
And all I can breathe is your life,  
And sooner or later it's over,  
I just don't want to miss you tonight.  
You can't fight the tears that ain't coming,  
Or the moment of the truth in your lies.  
When everything feels like the movies,  
Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive.  
And I don't want the world to see me,  
Cause I don't think that they'd understand.  
When everything's made to be broken,  
I just want you to know who I am.

**Iris – GooGoo Dolls**

**

* * *

**"The time has come to travel to the realm of He who lifts up the dead and makes their houses flourish. New life can be found by gazing into the mirror of the Noble Opener's grand design, there where the Great Bird of the Throne lives," Niya cited her translation of the fourth and final riddle.

She sighed deeply and took another bite from the hamburger she had picked up on her way home for lunch.

She now sat at her dinner table, surrounded by pictures of the scroll and several mythology books.

Niya swallowed a mouthful and sighed deeply as she looked down on the notepad in front of her with the translation of the riddle written on the top page in sloppy handwriting. "Okay, Niya. You can do this," she coached herself.

Although the whole case and working with the CSIs had provided her with more adrenaline than her job as a personal investigator had ever given her, she would be glad for this case to be solved. Then again working with Don had been nothing short of incredibly pleasant once they had worked through their now seemingly silly issues.

Don. That night they would be having their very first date and Niya found herself to be uncharacteristically nervous. Maybe it was because of what she planned to do once Don had showed up at her apartment, but she felt like a teenage girl having her high school crush over for a movie and some groping when her parents weren't home.

Stop it, Niya! she mentally reprimanded herself. Finish the riddle first, swoon over June later.

She sighed again deeply, took another bite from her burger and picked up the notepad.

"Twe twime has cwome to twavel to the wealm of He who wifts up the dwead and makes their houses fwouwish," she read out loud, while chewing contently on the greasy goodness in her mouth. "Well, there's only one son of Horus left and that would be Imsety and his realm would be the South," Niya deduced after having swallowed her bite.

"Hmmm, the Noble Opener… Noble Opener? Maybe Ptah. But what would the mirror of his grand design be?" she asked herself out loud. She shrugged and moved on to the next part.

"The Throne is the translation of Isis' name and her Great Bird would be… a vulture? There aren't any vultures in New York…" Niya murmured confusedly.

Another mouthful of burger followed.

"Okay, what is the mirror of Ptah's grand design?" she snarled. Grand design, grand design. Nothing came to mind. And if there was anything that Niya Hayes hated, it was not being able to figure something out.

"What is the fucking grand design, damn it?" she called out in sheer frustration.

And finally, after having finished her burger and having been through another forty-five minutes of sadomasochism, Niya decided to call it quits.

She grabbed her coat, purse and keys, walked out the front door and started to make her way to the crime lab, counting on someone, anyone, to shed some light on the situation. And knowing her new friends, they definitely would.

* * *

"Hey!" Niya chimed as she strode into room where the CSIs were talking while eating their lunches.

"Hi," Danny and Lindsay called back in unison.

Hawkes smiled and swallowed a mouthful of coffee. "Hey," he said. "Did you translate the riddle?"

Niya nodded. "That I did. I just have some trouble interpreting the last line," she replied bitterly.

"Why don't you tell us what you have so far," Don suggested and took another bite of his tuna sandwich.

Niya smiled and walked around the table to sit down in the empty chair next to him.

"Well, let's see… The riddle said 'The time has come to travel to the realm of He who lifts up the dead and makes their houses flourish. New life can be found by gazing into the mirror of the Noble Opener's grand design, there where the Great Bird of the Throne lives'. The first part refers to the last son of Horus, Imsety, the guardian of the liver and ruler of the South. Are you with me so far?" Niya chuckled when she saw the agonized expressions on her friends' faces.

"Totally," Danny murmured and rolled his eyes.

Flack snickered, shrugged and took another mouthful of his sandwich.

"Anyway," Niya continued, "the Throne is the goddess Isis and her Great Bird is a vulture. I believe the Noble Opener is the Creator God Ptah, but I'm stuck at the mirror of his grand design."

"And you expect _us_ to help _you_ figure it out?" Lindsay posed and raised her eyebrow disbelievingly.

"You will. I have faith in you," Niya giggled as she briefly glanced at each CSI in the room, until her eyes rested on Don, or more specifically his tuna sandwich.

Don followed her gaze and smirked. "You want some of this?" he said in a low, seductive voice.

"You know I do," Niya cooed with a suggestive look, and leaned over to take a bite.

Danny observed the two of them for a few seconds and erupted in a warm laugh. "My, my… you guys are sharing food already? You sure move quickly, don't you?" he teased.

Lindsay frowned and prodded her husband in the shoulder. "I'm not exactly sure they were talking about the food…" she said slowly.

Flack and Niya looked at each other and smirked mysteriously.

"Of course they weren't. You know Indiana and her dirty little mind," Danny chuckled.

Niya narrowed her eyes at Messer. "Hey, I do not have a dirty mind. And we _were_ talking about the food, FYI!"

Danny snorted. "That's what I would say if I were you…"

Niya leaned forward over the table. "Watch it, Messer," she hissed dangerously.

Hawkes, Flack and Lindsay sat quietly and followed the never-ending bickering between the new girl and Danny.

"Well, well, well. The kitty's got claws," Messer retorted.

Niya glared at him from across the table. "You bet she does. Don't make her use them on you," she warned.

"Okay you guys," Lindsay interrupted them. "Settle down or it's a cage for both of you."

Immediately Niya's green eyes shot to Lindsay and a wide grin spread across her face. "Did you say a cage?" she chimed.

"Uhm, I guess," Lindsay responded slowly.

"What are you getting all hyped up over, Niya?" Sheldon asked his friend who was practically bouncing in her chair from excitement.

"A cage!," she exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of that?" she asked herself with a frown and rubbed her forehead.

Danny turned to Lindsay. "You're not really gonna let her lock me up in a cage with _her_, are you? She's a mental, that one…"

Niya waved Danny's comment away. "Who's talking about you? I meant the riddle!"

She sat up in her chair and straightened out her face. "Okay, as I told you the riddle refers to the creator god Ptah, who created our entire world as we know it. Now, what represents all of his creation?" she posed to her friends.

"Just tell us," Sheldon sighed in exhaustion.

"You're no fun," Niya pouted. "A zoo!" she explained.

Don shook his head. "And you honestly expected me to know that? My education limits itself to high school, you know," he stated sarcastically.

Niya frowned. "You're much brighter than you give yourself credit for, you know," she mimicked his tone.

"What's going on here?" came Stella's voice from the doorway as she walked in with Mac.

"We just solved the last riddle. The liver is buried somewhere in a zoo in the south," Niya summarized.

"What's the southernmost borough in the city?" Stella asked.

Mac grimaced. "Danny should know."

Messer's face contorted with disgust. "Staten Island? This guy buried a liver at the Staten Island Zoo? No, no, no, no, no. That is so wrong in so many ways," he complained and shook his head vigorously.

"You wanna go, Goggles?" Niya teased.

Danny glared. "I think I'll pass on this one, Indy."

* * *

"I still think Messer should've come. This is his turf after all," Hawkes complained as he walked through the zoo in West New Brighton, Staten Island with Niya and Flack.

"Be happy you get to be in on the action this time," Don chuckled.

Hawkes smirked. "Speaking of action, when are the two of you hitting it off?" he inquired.

"Shelly, please!" Niya pleaded.

"Come on, you gotta give me something here," he snickered, obviously very amused at Niya's coyness.

"We," said Flack while motioning to himself and Niya, "are not hitting anything."

"Oh come on, guys! Aren't you two like dating now?" Sheldon pried.

Niya scraped her throat. "Well, now that you mention it, we do sort of have a get-together later tonight at my apartment."

Hawkes' chocolate eyes sparkled with amusement. "Really?"

Niya sighed. "Really. So, it would be great if you didn't show up at my door out of the blue for a midnight visit," she demanded.

"Don't worry, I can take a hint," Sheldon replied with a wink.

"Speaking of hints, what are we looking for again?" Don interrupted them.

Niya sighed again deeply. "Vultures, June, vultures. You know, the big, ugly, bald birds that eat dead things?"

Don furrowed his brows. "You mean like that one over there?" he asked, pointing to a cage in the distance.

"That would be them," Hawkes stated.

Once they had reached the vultures' habitat, Niya's eyes searched the ground. "Keep your eyes open for the dead goose," she told the guys.

"I think I found it," Sheldon voice called.

Flack and Niya rounded the corner and found Sheldon squatted down behind the cage.

"There it is," he said pointing to the cadaver in front of him and carefully started bagging it.

"Sooooo…" Niya said and clapped her hands. "Who's on digging duty?" she asked her boys with a questioning look.

Flack waved his hands in front of him. "Oh no, I've had my fair share of organ-digging. I'm still recovering from last time."

"Too bad, Shelly. But I'm a lady and ladies don't dig up guts," she said sweetly.

"Come on!" Hawkes protested.

Flack shrugged as he tossed him the shovel they had dragged along with them. "Tough luck, buddy."

Niya smiled and looked around her. Suddenly her attention was caught by something in the soil.

"So, Jonesy," Don asked as he stood next to her, "what exactly do you have planned for the night?"

"You'll see," she muttered absentmindedly and slowly walked in the direction of the bushes behind the vultures' habitat, her eyes still fixed on the ground.

"What? What is it, Niya?" Flack asked as he followed her gaze.

"I'm not sure," she said slightly above a whisper and made her way through the vegetation. Flack hesitantly followed her, until she suddenly came to a abrupt stop.

"Niya?" he asked again.

She pointed down in front of them. That's when Don realized there was a ditch in front of them, about five feet wide, between them and the cast-iron fence that separated the zoo from the outside world.

"There!" Niya called out. "On the fence! Don't you see it?" she said and hurried back through the bushes.

"What am I supposed to see?" Don yelled back.

Niya didn't respond and crouched down next to Sheldon, who was still digging out the box containing the liver, and quickly rummaged through his tool box.

"Kastle-Meyer… Kastle-Meyer… Shelly, where is your Kastle-Meyer test?" Niya questioned, checking the labels of several bottles in the box.

Sheldon exhaled deeply and stuck the shovel in the ground. "What do you need it for?" he said and fished a tiny plastic bottle out of his crime kit.

"Thanks. Now, hand me two swabs!" Niya pressed.

Hawkes eyed her suspiciously as he gave her what she asked for.

After she had grabbed the swabs, Niya made her way back to the ditch where a dumbfounded Don had waited for her.

"Would you mind telling me what the heck is going on?" he demanded.

"You'll see," Niya replied and moved back a few steps and bolted off towards the fence. Once she had reached the ditch she launched herself as far as she could. A metally thud sounded when Niya's body collided with the fence.

"She's lost it," Don muttered and his face contorted at the awkward sound.

"Niya!" Sheldon called out once he had joined them. "Are you okay?"

His friend moaned softly. "My boobs!" she whined.

"What did you think would happen once you decided to glomp a cast-iron fence?" Don yelled sarcastically.

"Well, the plan _did_ sound better in my head," Niya admitted. "But, it is worth it," she said as she pointed to a stain on the bars a few inches next to her. She swabbed the dark red stain and added a few drops of the solution she'd gotten from Sheldon. A smirk spread across her face when a bright pink color appeared.

"Gentlemen," she announced contently, "it looks like we've found ourselves some blood."

* * *

"Hey guys," Lindsay greeted Flack, Hawkes and Niya as they walked into the lab, "how did it go?"

Niya groaned as she plopped down on a chair.

"Her boobs hurt," Sheldon chuckled, earning him a scowl from Niya.

Flack snickered at her expression. "What did you expect, Jonesy? This what you get for glomping a cast-iron fence at a hundred miles per hour," he teased.

Niya stuck out her tongue and glared at her lover.

"If it wasn't for me glomping that son of a bitch cast-iron fence, certain CSIs wouldn't have been provided with a blood sample that could belong to our killer," she stated as she defiantly crossed her arms.

"A blood sample, huh?" came Mac's voice from the door way. "That has to be the best news I've had all day. Maybe it will shed some light on who the killer is. God knows we could use a lead."

He strode in and smiled as he gave Niya a pat on the shoulder. "Good work," he said.

Niya smiled back with a thankful nod and then turned to Flack.

"Hey June, do you know what I just realized?" she asked sweetly.

"Am I going to like this?" Don replied suspiciously.

Niya casually waved away his comment and smiled innocently. "This is the first day you haven't shown up on my doorstep with a bambino," she pouted with feigned disappointment, "and I could really use one right about now."

Flack laughed heartily and an amused grin spread across his face.

"Depending on me already, huh?" he joked.

"I would do no such thing. As a matter of fact," she stated as she stood up, "_I_ am going to get my own bambino."

"You do that," Don chuckled.

"What the hell is a bambino?" Lindsay whispered to Sheldon.

Hawkes shrugged. "Some weird coffee thing Flack brings her in the morning," he explained.

"I'm going," Niya said rebelliously as she slowly made her way to the door.

"Good. See you later," Don responded, his grin still in place.

Niya looked at him with a playful pout and stuck out her tongue one more time just before she walked out the lab.

"She is a handful, isn't she?" Mac uttered and shook his head.

Hawkes sighed. "She sure is."

"Um, June?" Niya asked as she stuck her head back into the room.

"Where exactly do I get a bambino?" she asked with a sheepish grin.

"Coffee Company," Don answered, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Right. I knew that… Bye!" Niya said and disappeared once more.

"Oh yeah," Flack chortled, "she _is_ a handful."

* * *

Once Niya had gotten her beloved bambino at the Coffee Company, she settled in one of the booths next to the store's window. She took off her coat and as she carefully blew the hot drink in her hands she couldn't help but think about Don.

She was really looking forward to their date that evening, something that she had been postponing for now seemingly stupid reasons.

She smiled at the realization that her life had been more exciting the past month than it had been in years. She was working a bizarre case with the best forensic investigators in the city, she had met her new best friend and had found herself an amazing cop for a boyfriend. She really had no complaints whatsoever. But it did sadden her a little when she thought of the fact that her job at the crime lab was basically done. She had translated all the riddles and helped finding the canopic jars, and so her role in this case had been fulfilled.

She had really enjoyed her time with the CSIs and Don. Maybe she should consider Stella's offer to become a Crime Scene Investigator. Niya knew she could do it. And she definitely knew she would love it. The mystery, the excitement, the knowledge that at the end of every day she'd done something to make the world a safer place.

Maybe, she thought and stared out the window at the lunchroom across the street. She smiled faintly when she saw a man and woman about her age exit the restaurant, holding each other's hands.

Soon June and I will walk around like that, Niya thought to herself.

Her eyes trailed the lovers as they made their way down the street. Until she caught sight of a familiar figure.

"Kamal…" Niya murmured, her eyes still focused on the man across the street. She took another swig of her bambino as he entered the lunchroom the two lovebirds had just left.

Niya squinted, pondering what to do. Her role in this case was done. Whatever was left to do was up to the CSIs. Yet somehow she felt like this was her moment to act, she sensed that Kamal knew something. Something that could break open this case.

I have to ask him, Niya decided and finished her bambino as she stood up and gathered her things. She quickly put on her coat, walked out the door and crossed the street to get some answers.

* * *

"Sir," a kind, but hesitant female voice spoke to Amir Kamal just as he took another mouthful of coffee. Kamal raised his head only to come face to face with a beautiful young lady of color who looked down on him with a set of piercing green eyes.

"May I sit down?" she asked with a polite smile, when she saw the surprised expression on his face.

Kamal gave the girl a curt nod and observed her curiously whilst she sat down across the table.

"What can I do for you, young lady?" he asked after having forcefully scraped his throat. He had no idea who this girl was, let alone what her business was with him.

The girl frowned for a second, seemingly gathering her thoughts, and placed her arms in front of her on the table, lacing her fingers together.

"My name is Niya Hayes, Sir. And I was wondering if I could ask you some questions about your daughter's disappearance," she stated.

Amir froze at the abruptness of the question and stared blankly ahead of him.

Niya's eyes grew dark as she slightly lowered her head. "I'm sorry," she said softly, "I didn't mean to upset you. It must have been very difficult for you to lose a child. It must _still_ be very difficult."

Kamal exhaled deeply and looked at the mysterious Niya Hayes intently. "You are quite right. It is difficult. Do you know what the hardest part is?" he inquired, his Arabic accent only slightly noticeable.

Niya nodded. "Not knowing," she answered. "Not knowing where she is. Not knowing what happened to her. Not knowing why of all people it had to be _your_ daughter. Not knowing who is responsible," she continued.

Amir grimaced. "One would think so, but no. The hardest part is knowing. Knowing who is responsible and knowing that since the person responsible for Monira's disappearance is now dead, I will never find her," he told Niya, calmer than she had expected him to.

Niya nodded briefly and kept her penetrating gaze fixed on the Egyptologist across the table.

Kamal looked back at her suspiciously and narrowed his eyes at her.

"You do not seem to be surprised to hear that my daughter's abductor is dead," he pointed out, still eyeing Niya suspiciously. "Who exactly are you, Miss Hayes, and what do you want from me? I doubt you are really here to learn about Monira," he asked sharply.

Niya's eyes glistened as she put her elbows on the table and leaned forwards a little. "You are right, Mr. Kamal. I'm not here because of your daughter. I'm here to ask you if you know who murdered Hani Barakat," she stated bluntly.

Amir huffed and turned his head.

"Are you with the police?" he informed.

"Not exactly," Niya replied slowly, "but if you know anything that might help them, it is imperative that you tell me."

"Why? What is it to you?" Kamal pressed. "Did you know Hani? If so, you are much better off without him."

Niya eyes softened and she smiled kindly at the scholar.

"I did not know Hani personally, and for all I know he _was_ involved in Monira's vanishing, but still he did not deserve what he got. Sir, I honestly don't mean to upset you or bring back painful memories. I have the greatest sympathy for you and your family, but I need your help. Although I am not actually with the police, I was called in to help during the investigation, because there are some strong links in this case to Egyptology. Considering the fact that you are an Egyptologist and you have a history with the victim, I was hoping you could help me," she said, her voice soothing and calm.

Kamal sighed and closed his eyes. "Dear child, I do not know anything about Hani's murder. I have not seen him for months. I am afraid I cannot be of any assistance," he explained apologetically.

Niya nodded in understanding as she stood up. "It's alright, Sir. Thank you for your time," she thanked him before turning around and heading to the door.

"I suspect you do not have any children yet, Miss Hayes?" Amir called out after her.

"No, I don't," Niya replied as she spun around to face him.

"I thought so," Amir chuckled, "but you will one day. And when you do, you will know what is like to teach them things, to see them grow and discover the world. To see them develop themselves and become independent adults that you as a parent can be proud of," he told Niya with a smile.

"Monira was my pride and joy. When I taught my children about my work, my passion, our country's history, she was always the one who picked up on things first. Monira excelled in everything she did. She would have gotten far, of that I am sure," Kamal reminisced.

"Are you alright?" Amir asked when he saw Niya's eyes flicker for the briefest of moments.

"Sir," she ask suddenly, "did you say you taught your _children_? Meaning that Monira was not your only child?"

Kamal stared at Niya, surprise evident in his eyes.

"Well yes. Monira was a natural when it came to Egyptology, but my son had different interests. He admired his little sister though, and they were very close," he replied.

Every single PI instinct Niya had was shifting into overdrive. _The person who wrote the scroll is a native English speaker with extensive knowledge of glyphs_.

"I was not aware of that, Sir. If you don't mind me asking, what does your son do?"

Kamal smiled. "Sayed is in his final year of Medical School. He wants to be a surgeon," he said in a way only a proud father can.

_Hani's organs had been removed with surgical precision_.

Niya swallowed and forced herself to smile at Amir once again. "And I'm sure he, like his sister, is very good at what he does. I'm very sorry, Sir, but I'm afraid I have to go," she said apologetically, obviously anxious to leave.

"Oh no, of course. I am sorry I could not be of more assistance," he called to her as she went to the door.

"Don't be, Sir. You have been more than helpful," she murmured as she opened the door and headed out onto the streets.

* * *

"Hey! Quit daydreaming!" Danny called out to his friend who was blankly staring ahead of himself with a faint smile on his face.

Don immediately snapped back to reality and frantically scanned the room, sighing in relieve when he saw Messer leaning against the doorpost, a smirk plastered on his face.

"For your information, I wasn't daydreaming," he defended himself as he crossed his arms defiantly.

Danny chortled. "Yeah whatever. So what exactly _were _you doing, Flack?" he inquired mockingly.

Don shrugged and looked the other way. "Nothing in particular."

A devilish grin spread across Messer's face upon the realization that his friend was lying. And he was obviously embarrassed about getting caught.

"Ah, didn't anyone ever tell you lying isn't a very nice thing to do? You were thinking about Indiana weren't you?" Danny pried.

"So what if I was?" said Don, while raising an eyebrow rebelliously.

"Nothing," Danny laughed. "I'm just happy for you, that's all."

Don was about to reply, when he was crudely interrupted by the persistent ringing of his cell phone. He frowned as he took it out of his pocket, but smiled when he saw the name on the screen.

"Speaking of the devil," he told Danny and picked up.

"Hey Jonesy, what's up?" he said trying desperately to sound calm and collected, unwilling to allow her to know just how happy he was to hear from her. He was fine with being open about his feelings for her, but he was still a man for chrissake and he had to preserve his masculinity to every possible extent.

"June," she said, and it only took him a second to hear she was clearly very excited about something.

"Amir Kamal has a son. His name is Sayed and he is in Med school, studying to be a surgeon," she spoke while audibly walking with quick paces in a very busy street.

Don furrowed his brows. "How did you find out about all this?" he informed.

"I had a chat with Kamal and he told me. And after that I did some snooping on my own," she replied, proud of her accomplishments.

"Snooping?" Don repeated with an amused chuckle.

"Yes, snooping. In case you forgot, I am still a PI. And a damn good one at that," she added smugly.

"Anyways," Niya continued, "I also found out that Amir taught his children a great deal about hieroglyphics and Egyptology. But most importantly, Sayed caused quite the uproar back when his sister disappeared. He blamed Hani more than anyone else did and was damn sure to make that fact clear to everyone. Taking all this in to consideration, I think there's a good chance that Sayed is our guy."

Don carefully processed all the information Hayes had dropped on him and nodded his head. "I think you might be right. I'll head over to Mac and discuss what our plan is going to be, so…" he started, but Niya interrupted him.

"I'm on my way to Sayed's apartment right now," she said.

Flack widened his eyes and looked at Danny. "Are you crazy!" he practically yelled at Niya through the phone. "This guy probably killed a man, buried body parts all throughout the city, and you want to go on a social call?"

There was no way anyone could have missed the worry in Flack's voice, but at that moment he couldn't care less about his masculinity. What the hell was Niya _thinking_? She most likely wasn't thinking at all.

"Don, relax. I'm just gonna look around his place and see if I can find anything. I swear I won't go near the place if I find out Sayed is home," she attempted to reassure Flack, but to no avail.

"I'm telling you no! Don't be stupid. I'll be there in no time, okay? Just stay where you are and wait for me," Don pleaded.

"June," Niya said in a gently voice, "I'll be careful, I promise. Just let me do my thing," she said and hung up the phone.

For a second or two Don stared at his cell in disbelieve. What _was_ she thinking? And why wasn't she listening to him? However, it didn't take him long to remember he had no time whatsoever to be baffled by Niya's never-ending self-confidence.

Don all but jumped up from his seat, headed straight to the door and just then Lindsay, Mac and Stella strode into the room.

"I got the DNA results of the blood you guys found on the fence of the Zoo," Lindsay announced while waving a light yellow folder. "I ran the sample through CODIS, and the donor is a yet unknown male, however," she added in a serious tone, "he seems to have nine out thirteen loci in common with Monira Kamal."

"It is probably a brother of Monira's" Stella uttered.

"Sayed," Don explained hastily, "Niya just called to tell me about him. He has knowledge of glyphs, knows his way around a body and literally hated the vic's guts. Niya is on her way to his apartment right now."

"She's going where?" Sheldon, who had just walked into the room, inquired.

"What the hell is she thinking going over there on her own?" Danny asked.

Mac shook his head disapprovingly. "That's beside the point now. A killer is still at large and Niya could be in trouble. We're going to head over there as well. Let's just hope we get to Sayed before Niya does."

* * *

It was nearly three in afternoon by the time Niya sat in a shabby diner across the street from Sayed Kamal's apartment building. And she had been sitting there for the past half hour, sipping on a cup of a hot liquid that could barely pass for tea, all the while keeping a close eye on Sayed's apartment and keeping track of everyone that entered and exited the building.

As there was no sight of her target whatsoever and she could not detect any activity in the apartment, Niya decided it was time to split from the horrid hell hole that dared to call itself a diner and to get to work.

After flagging down a waitress, paying her check and of course leaving a generous tip, Niya put on her coat and crossed the street.

When Niya reached Sayed's apartment building, she scanned for the name 'Kamal' on the bell panel. Niya took a deep breath, well aware of the risk she was taking, extended her hand and rang the door bell.

She stood still, half expecting Sayed to answer even though she had no reason to assume he was home.

But the response never came.

Niya rang the bell again, and again there was no answer.

Niya smirked. "Showtime," she softly snickered to herself, extended her hand once again and rang a random door bell.

"Hello?" a deep manly voice sounded.

"Hi baby," Niya said in a low, seductive voice. "Can I come up?"

The man on the other end was quiet for a few seconds before he was able to produce a response, though not a very cohesive one. "Uhm, I-I-I… I'm sorry, who is this?" he stammered, and Niya tried her hardest not to burst out in laughing at his stupidity.

"Honey, it's me…" she cooed. "Now let me up so we can started already. I've been waiting all day, baby."

Niya waited as she heard the poor man swallow forcefully while probably pondering what to do. A second later, the buzzer signaled Niya was free to come in.

"I'll see you in a bit, baby. Why don't you go get ready for me…" she suggested, pushed open the door and headed straight to the elevators.

"The poor bastard doesn't even know what hit him," she said to herself, shaking her head at the man's ignorance. It was the oldest trick in the book and he fell for it. Now doing the same thing to a woman: _that_ was a challenge.

The elevator stopped at the 17th floor, Niya got off and looked at the apartment numbers next to the doors in the long hallway. Apartment 1702, 04, 06, 08, 10, and 1712. That was it. Room 1712.

Niya stood in front of the door and knocked. No response.

She knocked again. Still no response.

Time for part two of the show, she thought to herself, opened her purse and pulled out two paperclips. She skillfully unwound the paperclips and stuck them in the lock of the door.

Niya wriggled them around a bit, applied the right amount of pressure at the right moment, and the door fell out the lock.

Why was it people always seemed to think that these skills could only be attributed to characters on TV shows? Anyone could do it, you just had to know how.

Niya quickly made her way inside, softly closed the door behind her and immediately initiated her standard home invasion routine.

First, she made a quick round through the apartment both to make sure nobody was home and to make a mental list of hot spots for possible evidence.

Once the house was cleared, Niya headed to the kitchen to retrieve a glass, plastic cup or whatever else she could find. She reached up into a cupboard, her hand enveloped by a oven mitt and grabbed a glass. Then she headed back to the front door and balanced the glass on the door knob. If anyone came in the apartment she would at least get a fair warning when the glass inevitably fell to the floor.

With the glass in place Niya first headed to Sayed's study: a spacious room, decorated with black, whites, different shades of grey and modern furniture. She made her way to the big black desk and sat down in the chair behind it.

Niya carefully scanned the items in front of her. An anatomy book, some folders and in the far corner a family picture of the Kamal family. Sayed and Monira stood between their parents, while Sayed had a protective arm wrapped around his sister's shoulder.

Niya picked the frame up and looked at the image more thoroughly. They all looked so happy, so unaware of all the bad things in the world, just blessed with wealth and joy and safety.

Niya put the frame back in its place and shifted her attention to the folders. She opened the top one and skimmed the documents in it. They were articles, scientific articles about the medicinal use of natural products. One article in particular caught her attention. It focused on the use of the poison strychnine as a medicine.

"Hani was poisoned with strychnine," Niya murmured and moved on to the next folder.

It contained more articles, but these seemed to involve results of clinical studies of newly developed drugs, so Niya figured they probably were not case related.

Niya closed the folder and opened the next one. The first thing she saw was a close-up picture of Monira Kamal smiling widely. She seemed like a genuinely nice girl and Niya couldn't think of a single reason why anybody would want to harm someone like her.

She shuffled through the file and found more pictures of Monira, and Sayed was in some of them. She found newspaper clippings regarding Monira's case, adds urging witnesses to submit any relevant information about her disappearance to the police, and notes about tips that Sayed had gathered. He was obviously still haunted by this whole situation.

With a deep exhale Niya opened the final folder. Niya's eyes grew wide. This file didn't contain any articles or paper clippings or family pictures. Niya gulped when she picked up the top sheet of paper.

She gazed as the familiar sentences on the paper and the hieroglyphics scribbled under them. This was a draft version of the papyrus scroll Mac had found on Hani's body. If Sayed was innocent, there was no way he could have known about the scroll. No information regarding the case had been released to the press, so this could only mean one thing…

Niya flipped the sheet and saw a schematically drawn map of New York City with five symbols on it. Hieroglyphics. Niya squinted as she studied them.

They represent _jackal, hawk, ape, man _and_ cursed one_, Niya realized.

"Sayed is the one," she told herself, "he has to be…"

Suddenly Niya's thoughts were interrupted by a dull thud.

The glass! she thought frantically. Someone's coming in…

Niya jumped up from the chair, arranged the folders on the desk the way she had found them and desperately tried to think of a place where she could hide. She looked around in panic upon the realization that she was in the house of a killer and she had no place to go.

Her heart started racing as she heard footsteps coming from the living room.

The closet! She uttered and slipped out of the study and into the bedroom across the hallway as quickly and quietly as she could.

Just as she had softly closed the bedroom door, steady footsteps sounded from the hallway.

Niya swiftly bolted to the built-in closet, closed the doors behind her and shrunk away in the corner, backed against the wall.

The footsteps slowly moved away from the corridor into one of the other rooms.

Niya quietly prayed that whoever was there would just go away. She cursed herself for being stubborn and not listening to Don. How the hell could she have thought that just because she could deal with cheating husbands and crackpot CEOs, she was able to handle a madman who had not only killed a man, but had scattered his body parts all over the city?

Niya nearly wanted to slap herself when the footsteps returned to the hallway, stopped in front of the door of the bedroom and she put her hand over her mouth when she heard the door open.

Her tough girl attitude was quickly forgotten when Niya heard the steady thuds move throughout the room, and she bit her lip and curled into a ball when they stopped next to the closet.

For a few moments all was quiet.

And then the footsteps sounded once more, went out of the room, through the hallway and back to the living room.

Niya sighed deeply in relief and silently thanked God for helping her out of this predicament.

That is, until her cell phone rang and Niya was again at the verge of tears.

This cannot be happening to me, she mentally cried out as she struggled to make an end to the horrid ringing. How the hell did she get herself into this? She closed her eyes as she heard the footsteps quickly coming back into the corridor and into the bedroom once again.

No, she thought, I'm not going down without a fight. Pull yourself together, Niya, she urged herself. Get up and make a stand.

She trembled a little when she finally stood up. She clenched her fist, trying to muster ever single ounce of courage she possessed. And by the time the footsteps had stopped in front of the closet, Niya had decided offense _is_ the best defense.

She closed her eyes again and waited until she could hear the steady breathing of whoever was in the room with her.

Got you! she thought and looked at the right closet door. And then without giving it a second thought, Niya slammed open the door.

"Shit!" she heard a agonizing male voice call out, and as she bolted to the hallway she glanced back only once to see a flustered Sayed Kamal fall to the floor grabbing his forehead. However, it didn't take him very long to recover and Niya could hear him getting up and following in her trail.

"You fucking bitch! What the fuck are you doing in my house?" he snarled as he ran through the corridor.

In the meanwhile, Niya had reached the front door and hysterically jerked the knob, but it wouldn't budge.

"Fucking hell, open up!" Niya cried out, pulling on the door as if her life depended on it. Hell, it probably did!

"Open the fuck up!" she begged.

"Are you looking for these?" Sayed's voice said menacingly from a few feet away from her.

Niya spun around on her heels and moaned in horror when she saw a bunch of keys dangling on his right index finger. That bastard had locked her in!

"Now that you're not going anywhere," Sayed said venomously as he closed in on her, "would you mind telling me what you're doing here?"

Niya tried to regain her composure. It might have already been too late, but like hell she was gonna let this asshole know how scared she really was.

"For as far as I'm concerned, you are the one who has some confessing to do," Niya shot back with all the confidence and viciousness she could conjure.

Sayed merely gave her a icy glare.

"So now you're playing tough with me? You better watch what you say, Missy. You are in no position to trash talk, and besides I'm not a very patient man," he snarled.

Niya huffed. "Oh please, I know all about the type of guy you are," she spat and her emerald eyes glistened ferociously.

Sayed grinned and advanced some more on Niya. "Is that so? Why don't you enlighten me, huh? What type of person am I?" he pressed.

Niya held her head up proudly and stood her ground. "You, Sayed Kamal, are an ordinary murderer and your father would be ashamed of you," she stated more calmly that she had thought possible.

Kamal's eyes flickered for a moment, and abruptly grabbed Niya by the arm. "Who are you?" he yelled as he violently shook her. "I said who the fuck are you?" he repeated when Niya didn't respond.

"Let go of me!" Niya screamed, struggling to get away from him.

"Let go!" she yelled again.

But Sayed didn't let go. He kept pressing, demanding an explanation from her.

And Niya was a little lost as to what to do. She didn't have a weapon, she couldn't call for help and she couldn't get away since Sayed had the keys to the front door. And so Niya did the only thing she could think of. She took a deep breath, moved a little backwards and then planted her knee in Sayed's crotch as hard as she could.

He groaned in pain as her knee connected and fell to the floor. Niya quickly tried to grab the keys from his pocket. When Sayed struggled to stop her that just earned him another kick in the round tables.

Niya pulled out the keys and quickly bolted to the door and stuck a key in the lock… The wrong one! She hysterically tried another key, and another until finally the lock turned.

Niya shrieked in relief and swung the door open. However, just as she was ready to get out, Sayed grabbed her ankle, sending Niya to the floor with a dull thud.

Sayed violently pulled her back in his apartment, lay Niya on her back and threw himself on top of her.

"Did you really think I was going to let you run out like that?" he hissed as he brought his hands to her throat and began squeezing it.

"Did you really think that I would let you ruin me and my father for that bastard?" he continued.

Niya kicked and twisted and scratched to get Sayed to break his hold of her, but he wouldn't budge. She grabbed his hands, tried to pry them from her neck, but the strength in her hands seeped away with every breath she missed.

"Niya!" she heard a familiar voice call out from the corridor outside the apartment.

"Don!" she cried with a tiny voice, gasping for air.

A couple seconds later Niya saw Flack appear in the open doorway in full NYPD gear, armed and dangerous. He was followed by Sheldon and Mac and a handful of officers she hadn't seen before.

As soon as Don saw the position Niya was in, he launched at Sayed, pulled him away from Niya in one swift movement and pinned him to the floor.

Niya fought desperately to catch a breath as Don began to lay punches on Sayed.

"Niya," Sheldon said as he kneeled down next to her and held her head to his chest, "are you alright?"

Niya panted heavily and looked up at her friend with fear-filled eyes. "He… He… Tried… T-t-to… Kill… Me…" she squeezed out in between gasps.

"Flack! That's enough!" Mac called out to Don, who continued to batter Kamal, but Don didn't respond.

"Get him off of him!" Mac ordered the four officers behind him.

They hastily moved towards Flack and two of them wrenched him away from Sayed as the other two pulled Kamal from the ground to cuff him up.

"You!" Sayed snarled at Niya. "You're with the police!"

"Does it really matter? You're going to jail either way!" Niya snapped back, finally having regained her breath.

"Niya!" Mac scolded. "He is none of your concern. We will take care of him," he added in stern, yet softer voice than before. He then gave the others a curt nod. "Get him out of here," he said and his subordinates obeyed.

Mac turned back to Niya. "Don't worry, Niya. We will take care of him," he repeated.

"That we most definitely will…" Don hissed as he pulled himself out of his colleagues' grip. He fixed his menacing gaze on Kamal for a moment as he passed him, after which his eyes trailed to Niya.

He quickly strode to her fell to his knees and shook his head.

"What were you thinking coming here on your own, Jonesy?" he said softly as he cupped her face with one hand.

"I… I… I don't know," she sniveled. "I just wanted to help out."

Don sighed deeply, briefly closed his eyes and when he opened them again he looked at Niya with an intense gaze.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

"Do you have any idea how worried _I _was?" Sheldon butted in.

Niya snickered for a moment and smiled weakly at both of them.

"I am so sorry, you guys. Really, I am," she whispered sincerely.

"It's okay," Hawkes whispered back as he planted a kiss on her hair, "just don't ever pull something like this again."

"I second that motion," Don said sadly.

Sheldon gave Flack a pat on the back, stood up and gave Mac a look. Taylor nodded understandingly.

"We'll wait outside," he said quickly as he and the others left the room.

It was quiet in the apartment. Don knelt next to Niya and stared at the floor, while she gathered her thoughts thinking of that to say to him.

"I should have listened to you, June," she started. "You were absolutely right. I put myself in harm's way because I was stubborn and I never should have done it. I didn't mean to worry you, period, but I thought that I could handle it. I was wrong," she admitted with a sheepish grin.

"This is not funny, Niya," Don snapped. "I could've lost you today. You could have died here. You could've died just like _her_," he said bitterly and lowered his head.

Niya gasped and her eyes grew dark. "Don, I am so sorry," she said trying to connect to his eyes, but he turned away.

"Don, please look at me," she pleaded and turned his head gently for him to face her.

He sighed and closed his eyes. "I don't want to go through that again, Niya. Don't make me go through it again," he said barely above a whisper.

"June, look at me," Niya demanded, her voice now as strong and steady as ever.

Flack opened his eyes and looked at her sadly.

"I will _never_ do anything like this again. I promise," she vowed as she held his face. "I will never put you in this position again, I swear."

"Okay," Don answered and then pulled Niya against his chest, pressing her as close to him as possible.

"Hey June, one suffocation attempt a day is more than enough, you know," Niya teased and Don immediately released her.

"Again. Not funny," he warned, but when he saw the amusement on Niya's face, he couldn't help but smile himself.

Niya stood up from the ground and offered Don a hand. Once she had pulled him up, she stood on her tip toes, grabbed him by his bulletproof vest and planted a soft kiss on his lips.

"How about we get out of here?" she suggested with a smirk.

Don smiled. "That, Jonesy, is an excellent idea."

* * *

It had been a long couple of days, but finally the end of the Mummy case was in sight. Stella, Niya and Flack stood behind the mirror, watching the interrogation Mac and Danny were conducting on Sayed Kamal.

"I still think it should've been me in there," Don muttered.

Stella shook her head. "I disagree. I think we both know what you would do to him," she replied with a half-hearted smile.

Don huffed. "But still…"

Niya placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a soft squeeze. "Just let it go, June. Let it go," she whispered.

Flack nodded reluctantly and turned his attention back to the room on the other side of the glass.

"So Sayed, here's the thing," Messer told the young Kamal, who slouched back in his chair and didn't even bother to look Danny in the eye.

"We already know what happened. We know that it was you that killed Hani Barakat. But you are going to tell us why." Danny leaned over the table and snapped his fingers in front of Sayed's face when the suspect didn't respond.

"Hey!" Danny yelled at Kamal, but Sayed didn't even flinch.

"Hey!" Messer called out again. No reaction.

"Listen Sayed," Mac interrupted with a frown, "you are going to jail regardless of whether you talk or not. But this is your one chance to tell your side of the story. This is your one chance to explain yourself."

Niya squinted as she followed the scene developing in front of her and turned to Stella. "Something's off. I'm going in there," she said and moved to the door.

"Niya, maybe you shouldn't," Stella cut in.

Flack chuckled bitterly. "So I can't go in there, but you can? I'm not the one that almost got killed by this guy!" he accused his girlfriend.

"That may very well be, but I _am_ the one of us that knows how to keep her cool," she shot back.

"Besides," Niya continued, "there is something I need to find out."

Stella shrugged and shook her head as Niya turned on her heels and left the room only to appear on the other side of the glass.

"Indiana," Danny asked in surprise, "what are you doing in here?"

Sayed's eyes shot to Niya in a flash and he stared at her intently.

Mac stood up quickly and pulled Niya by the arm back towards the door. "What do you think you're doing? You can't be in here!" he said softly, however there was no way for Niya to have missed the sternness in his tone.

"I'll behave, I promise. Please, Mac, let me do this?" she asked, her voice steady and her air as confident as ever. Her whole demeanor told Mac that Niya knew what she was doing and that she could handle the situation.

"Alright," Taylor said hesitantly as he let go of Niya's arm with a sigh. She smiled and continued her walk to the table.

"Hello, Sayed," Niya said calmly as she sat down next to Messer. "Why won't you answer the questions these nice gentlemen are asking you?"

Sayed continued to stared at Niya. "How's your windpipe doing?" he finally asked with a devious smirk.

Danny's eyes shot to the woman next to him, half expecting her to lash out at Kamal, but Niya didn't move a muscle. Her face was straight, emotionless even, completely unbothered by the reference Sayed had made about his attempt to suffocate her just hours earlier.

"My trachea is fine, thanks for asking. I'm glad to see you haven't lost all of your good manners, Sayed," she replied as her eyes bore deeply into Kamal's.

Mac had seen many things in his days and even though Niya had ensured him she was fine, he hadn't expected her to handle the situation as well as she did. And obviously Sayed was getting ticked off by her lack of anger towards him. He was obviously trying to upset Niya, but so far it wasn't working.

"What the hell are you getting at?" he snapped and bent over the table with a vicious glare.

For a moment Niya's emerald eyes flickered and she placed her palms flat on the table. "What I'm getting at, is that your father is a good man. He raised you to the best of his ability. And I can't help but wonder how, with his guidance, you turned out like this," she said slowly, emphasizing each word.

Sayed shot up from his chair in an instant. "Don't you talk about my father! Don't you talk about that bastard!" he yelled as he pointed a finger at Niya warningly. He paced through the room and as Mac and Danny stood up as well, just in case he planned to make a move.

"Why? What did he ever do to you?" Niya asked still cool and collected, but nevertheless curious.

"What did he do?" Sayed snickered. "My brilliant father, who never does anything wrong. He wanted us to be just like him. He wanted me and Monira to be Egyptologists like him. Monira was so good at it and I… Well, I was just never good enough for dear old Dad. I tried so hard to make him proud. I did my best to get the hang of the Egyptology thing, but it just wasn't me," he said with a grimace.

"He always told me to try harder, to make something of myself, to be more like Monira. But I wasn't her. I would never be her, but he never understood." The anger in both Sayed's expression and voice continued to grow as he sat back in his chair.

"I went to Med School to be a doctor, so I could make my father proud. To finally outshine my sister. To finally be his favorite. But do you think he even acknowledged me? He only had eyes for Monira," he stated angrily and smashed his fist on to the tabletop.

A terrible realization dawned upon Niya and she gasped. "Sayed… you killed her. Your sister. You killed Monira!" she cried out in horror.

Sayed shrugged and snickered quietly.

Danny shook his head disbelievingly. "You offed your sister and then you blame it on Hani Barakat. What kind of person are you?"

"What did you do with her?" Mac demanded.

Kamal huffed and raised an eyebrow at Mac. "Do you think I'm stupid or what?" he mocked Taylor.

That didn't sit well with Mac. He paced to Sayed and bent over him dangerously.

"Listen, I don't have time for you crap!" Mac bellowed. "You are going to tell us what you did to your sister and you're going to do it now!"

Kamal sat up straight and brought his face just inches away from Mac's. "I. Don't. Think. So," he stated defiantly and slouched back in his chair.

"Sayed," Niya said slowly, "why did you blame Hani for Monira's disappearance? Why him?"

Sayed pulled a hand through his thick, dark, curly hair and smirked. "Hani was a player. He had a new girl every week, sometimes more. That wasn't exactly a secret, but still Monira had a thing for him. Ever since he came from Egypt to work for my father as an intern, she had a secret crush on him. How a girl like her could fall for a guy like him is still beyond me," he chuckled.

"Eventually they started dating. Monira was totally smitten, but my father and I knew that Hani was just using her. One night my father called Hani into his office and threatened to send him back home if he didn't break up with Monira. His job was obviously more important to him than Monira and when he tried to end things with her, they had a fight. Once she was… gone, I told my father about their little altercation and it wasn't too much trouble to convince him that Hani was behind my sister's vanishing. He believed that if Hani was indeed guilty, Allah would make sure that he was caught and punished. _Maktoub_, Father said. So I made sure he was punished."

"_Maktoub_?" Danny asked.

"It means 'it is written'," Niya responded. She frowned and looked at Mac. Taylor shook his head.

"People never cease to amaze me," he muttered.

Niya sighed. "When I was in your house I found a folder containing information on Monira's case. When I found it I believed you were still haunted by the pain of your sister's disappearance. But that's not it. You wanted to know how close people were to finding out the truth. And I think Hani was onto you," she stated and crossed her arms.

Kamal sniffed and pulled a hand through his hair again. "You're a smart girl, aren't you?" Sayed asked with a smile. A smile that gave Niya the creeps.

Once he had laced his hands together on the table Sayed started to talk. "After the accusations Hani had apparently been trying to redeem himself. He seems to have done some research and a few weeks ago he appeared on my door step asking questions. That's when I knew he had to go."

Mac narrowed his eyes and paced through the room.

"And that's when you started to work on your plan. The riddles, the manner of death, you planned it all," he said, disgust oozing out of every word he uttered.

"My father would be proud. And here he was thinking he hadn't taught me a thing. Apparently some of his skills rubbed off on me after all," Sayed joked.

Suddenly Niya's green orbs grew dark as she stared icily at Sayed. "That is not funny. Your father would be ashamed of you. How dare you blame this on him? When I talked to him he spoke nothing but good about you. He was so proud. Yes, he loved your sister. But he loved you just as much. And you disgraced him. You betrayed him,"

Sayed swallowed. "You talked to my father?"

"Yes I did. And now I have find a way to break this to him. How do you tell a man that the daughter he loved so much was murdered by the son he took so much pride in?" Niya spat out.

"You killed your sister for nothing. You wanted your father's love, but you always had it," she continued, her voice slightly above a whisper. "And now you've lost it. Along with everything else."

Messer, Mac and Niya looked at the man across the table. Sayed was quiet, his eyes ran watery and he shook his head.

"You're lying," he said softly to Niya. "You are just trying to break me."

That statement earned him a huff from Niya. "There is no need for me to break your spirit, Sayed. You will do that for me. I'll make you a promise right now. Someday soon you are going to wake up and you are going to realize exactly what it is you have done. You will realize that you destroyed your family for nothing. And you are going to realize that there is no way you can ever make it right. And it is going to haunt you for the rest of your life."

Sayed grinned. "Don't get your hopes up, pretty girl. I'm not gonna rot away in jail."

"You might want to reconsider," Mac cut in. "You're facing some serious charges here, Kamal. You have two counts of murder, mistreatment of a dead body, obstruction of justice, violent assault and attempted murder of an NYPD consultant, and framing a man for murder. You're looking at 25 to life without parole."

"Says who? You?" Sayed chuckled.

"No," Niya interrupted. "So says the law, Sayed. _Maktoub_."

* * *

In the twenty-six years of her existence, never had Niya Hayes been so nervous to meet a member of the opposite sex. And to be completely honest, she couldn't think of a single reason why she should be. She had done this a thousand times before, so one more first date should be a piece of cake. But it wasn't. For some reason she was so anxious for her relationship with Don to work, that she decided that her first date with him should be somewhat unconventional.

At about 20.30 pm the liberating knock on the door sounded and Niya exhaled deeply before walking to the front door and opening it.

When Don looked down at the woman in front of him he was surprised to say the least.

"When you said dress casual this wasn't exactly what I had in mind," he stated as he raised his eyebrow at Niya's choice of attire. "Am I early?"

Niya was wearing some baggy sweatpants, white sport socks and a plain white t-shirt that was at least four sizes too big for her. Her long black hair was gathered in a messy bun and there wasn't a single ounce of makeup on her. And yet she couldn't have looked more beautiful to Don.

Niya giggled. "No, you're not early. This is what I'll be wearing," she answered as she motioned for Don to come in.

Flack stepped in, and put the plastic bag he brought on the kitchen table so he could take off his coat. He smirked when he looked down on his own outfit.

"I never thought _I_ would be the one to be overdressed…"

Niya smiled softly. "I know this isn't what you were hoping for, but I wanted you to see me for who I really am. I'm not the fashionista or the pretty girl, the PI or the tough girl. I'm just Niya and tonight I want to show you exactly who that is," she said as she gently put her arms around Don's waist and looked up at him with sparkling green eyes.

"I'd like that very much," Don replied quietly and softly stroke her cheek. "I'm not disappointed," he assured her. "Surprised, yes. But never disappointed."

An amused grin spread across Niya face. "Good. Now let's get you into something more comfortable too," she cooed with a suggestive look while she disappeared into her bedroom. When she returned she held a small pile of clothes and handed them to Don.

"Now, hurry up and get dressed before the food gets cold," she ordered whilst pointing at the take-out that Flack had picked up on his way over.

Don raised an eyebrow as he eyed the bundle of fabric in his hands. "Just out of curiosity, why is it that you have men's clothes in your apartment? Trophies from your former lovers?" he teased.

Niya stuck out her tongue as she continued to gather plates, glasses and cutlery. "It's not my fault that Shelly feels at home here. I'm telling you, sometimes it seems like that guy lives here, the way he comes and goes as he pleases," she snickered.

Flack chuckled and shook his head, but nevertheless made his way to Niya's bedroom to change. When he was halfway there, Niya called out to him.

"What is it, Blue Eyes? Too self-conscious to undress in front of your girlfriend?"

Don grimaced. Niya might have been joking about it, but it was true enough. He had been self-conscious about exposing himself to new women ever since the bombing years ago that had left him with a scar across his abdomen. Niya was perfect and yes, he was a bit embarrassed for not being the same.

"Not at all," he responded after a few seconds. "But what's wrong with keeping a little mystery?" he rebutted.

"Touché," Niya chuckled from the kitchen.

By the time Don returned to the living room Niya had displayed the food on the coffee table and leant into fridge to find herself and her boyfriend a drink.

"Beer?" she ask when Don popped up behind her and placed his hands on her hips.

"Yes, please," he replied, made his way to the couch and plopped down.

Niya returned with a glass of white wine for herself and a bottle of Heineken for Flack. As she sat down next to him on the couch and handed him his beer, she eyed Don suspiciously.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" she asked him reluctantly.

Don smiled warmly and pulled Niya against his chest. "Will you stop worrying?" he soothed her and placed a kiss on her forehead. "I want to learn everything there is to know about you, Niya, Hayes, so we might as well start tonight."

* * *

During dinner Don and Niya had discussed all sorts a stuff, ranging from Flack's adventures as a cop and Niya antics as a PI to the memorable events in their youths, and now they lounged on the couch with a slasher flick playing in the background.

"Hey, Jonesy," Flack started just as a cheerleader lost her life on screen, "How many guys have been serious with before me?"

Niya was quiet for a while before she answered. "Just one really," she said finally. "I mean sure I've dated more guys, but it never lasted more than a few months. Except for that one guy."

Don caressed Niya's hair as she laid her head on his shoulder. "What was he like?" he asked softly.

"His name was Tyler Ferreira and he was perfect. Ty and I have known each other since primary school. We grew up together, went to the same high school and the same college. He was cute, smart and extremely popular. He was the kind of guy that all other guys envied and all the girls desired. And yet he was very grounded, down to earth and not the least bit full of himself. That's what I liked about him. We were a lot alike in that sense I guess," Niya said with a soft smile gracing her lips. It had been a long time since she had last talked about Tyler, but all of a sudden she was reminiscing some really good times.

Don looked down on her and waited patiently for her to continue.

"It was during college my first year I think, a few weeks after I broke up with Grant – you remember him right? – that I first started seeing Ty as an actual guy rather than a buddy. And from there we moved quickly. We fell in love, started dating and were pretty soon known as the hottest couple on campus. We had dated for four years when I ended things."

Don frowned. "I'm confused. If he was so perfect, why did you break up with him?" he asked confusedly.

Niya grimaced. "I have been asking myself that question ever since. There was nothing wrong with him. It's just that somehow I've always felt like he wasn't for me. The night I broke up with him he had proposed to me and that's when I realized that it was selfish of me to hold onto him when I was doubting our relationship. So, I had to let him go," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

For a second she thought back to that moment and was guilt ridden when she remembered the anguish on his face, the complete and utter shock to find out that she didn't love him the way he loved her. Her stomach turned when she thought of how badly she must have hurt him.

"How did he take it?" Don inquired carefully.

It took Niya a few moments to reply. "He accepted it. And gentleman as he was never spoke of it again. Shortly after that Ty graduated from Law School and moved to LA. I haven't seen him since."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Don murmured.

"It's okay," Niya muttered with a smile and snuggled closer against Don," I have good memories about Ty. And it would have been selfish of me to want him as a part of my life after having rejected him. I guess it's for the best."

For while they laid on the couch in silence, until Niya spoke up.

"How about you?" she whispered.

"What about me?" Don replied.

"What about your relationships?" Niya specified.

Don hesitated for a bit. "I've had a few. The last of which didn't end so well, as you might have heard already," he uttered with a grimace.

Niya nodded. "Yeah. The guys at the lab mentioned it," she stated slowly.

"Detective Jessica Angell," Don started. "She was a homicide detective like me. We met on the job and at first we were friendly colleagues. That is until I made a not so subtle move on her," Don told Niya with a chuckle.

"Fortunately for me she was endeared by my clumsiness rather than creeped out and we started dating. And things were good, for about a year and a half. Until she died."

For a few minutes all was quiet. Niya didn't press Don to continue as it was obvious that it wasn't easy for him to talk about what had happened.

"The day Jess died, we were supposed to hang out. I was on the phone with her when it happened," Don said as he swallowed. "She was transporting a witness and they had made a stop a diner. But someone obviously wanted to prevent her witness from talking. A truck burst through the shop window and Jess got caught in a shoot-out. By the time I got there she was barely alive."

"They transported her to the hospital as quickly as they could, but they couldn't save her. Jess died during surgery."

Niya sighed and lowered her head.

"I am so sorry, Don," she whispered and gently placed her hand on his cheek. She softly turned his head to face her. "I stand by what I said earlier. I know that what I did today was stupid and I promise I won't make you go through anything like this again."

A smile crept on Flack's face as he tightly hugged the women laying next to him.

"I know that," he said sincerely, suddenly stood up from the couch and extended his hand to Niya.

"What about it, Jonesy. How about we call it a night?" he said with a suggestive smirk.

Niya looked up at him with a devilish grin. "That, June, sounds like an excellent idea," she replied as Flack pulled her up and led her to the bedroom.


	7. Chapter 7 The start of something new

**Author Notes: Yay, finally... Chapter 7 of WDYHTY! It has been a long wait, but the good news is I am now bursting with creative energy! Now let's hope that translates into a LOT of new chapters coming up... That is if I can squeeze in some time in my busy, busy life as a forensic DNA expert! Yes, I have graduated and am now officially a working woman, so yay!  
**

**Anyway, feel free to message and review. I'm open to anything that will help improve my writing. But if you just want to tell me how awesome the story is, that fine too! I'd really like to know how i'm doing so far...**

**A special thanks to everyone who added my story as a favorite and my amazing reviewers! Again, it is very much appreciated!**

**In chapter 7, Don and Niya have their first heart to heart as a couple and... a new Prince Charming takes the stage... Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Other than the amazing Niya Hayes, I don't own anything...**

* * *

**Chapter 7 – The start of something ne**

Remember those walls I built  
Well, baby they're tumbling down  
And they didn't even put up a fight  
They didn't even make up a sound  
I found a way to let you in  
But I never really had a doubt  
Standing in the light of your halo  
I got my angel now  
It's like I've been awakened  
Every rule I had you breakin'  
It's the risk that I'm takin'  
I ain't never gonna shut you out  
Everywhere I'm looking now  
I'm surrounded by your embrace  
Baby, I can see your halo  
You know you're my saving grace  
You're everything I need and more  
It's written all over your face  
Baby, I can feel your halo  
Pray it won't fade away

**Halo - Beyoncé**

* * *

Idyllic. That was the one word that could describe the view spanning out in front of Niya Hayes. What seemed to be endless ocean of green grass extended itself before her, scattered flowers breaking the intense emerald glow with soft pastel colors. The sky above her was bright blue, with not a single cloud interrupting its serenity. Not a single living being made a sound and not even the wind dared to disrupt the silence of the moment. Niya felt at peace as she lay there on her back in the soft grass, staring up at the heavens. Life could be so hectic at times that she had come to appreciate every possible opportunity she got to unwind and recharge herself. She closed her eyes and relished in the quiet of her surroundings, clearing her mind, thinking of nothing at all.

During the past few years Niya had seen what terrible things people persisted to do to one another, the way they cheated and stole and betrayed. And although she was a social being at heart, that knowledge had led her to sometimes seek out solitude and distance herself from the world. And when she did, she found there was no place better to recollect herself than in that field. In the silence of the plain.

"Niya?"

Silence…

"Niya? Are you up?"

Silence! What happened to the silence?

"Niya, it's time to get up, sweetie. It's 6.30 already," a soft male voice spoke to her.

Agitated, Niya let out a low growl and rolled onto her other side, turning her back to the annoying entity trying to disturb her moment of peacefulness.

"Niya, we gotta get to work," the voice pressed.

"No… I don't wanna. Leave me alone," she protested, lazily waving a half-numb hand in the direction of the noise.

"Whatever you say, Jonesy," the voice said with a chuckle. "I'm heading to the shower."

A smirk pulled on Niya's lip as she opened one eye and glanced at Don as he stood up from the bed, grabbed a towel and started to make his way to the bathroom.

"Can I join you?" she asked gingerly.

"Nope," Don replied with a grin. "But you can go and make us some tea. God knows you need it," he teased as he ensued to the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

"You're no fun!" Niya stated and pulled the covers over her head, snuggling into her pillow and closing her eyes.

For a few moments she laid there in her bed, but once she heard the water running in the shower, she reluctantly decided to get up. In the name of love she would abandon the warm, safe cocoon that was enveloping her and make June some coffee.

Niya sat up, defiantly threw her duvet off her body and jumped out of bed… only to squeak from the sudden surge of cold air and flee back under the covers.

By the time Don reappeared from the bathroom fully dressed, his girlfriend was quivering heap of human being completely packed in her blanket with only her eyes and nose peeping out of the fluffy barrier that separated her from her chilly surroundings.

Flack smirked as he walked up to her and sat on the bedside.

"Come on, Jonesy. Time to get up," he said and hugged his girl through the covers.

"But it's cold," Niya whined, earning her a chuckle from Don.

"So what? Will you get up if I promise to warm you up afterwards?" he replied with an evil grin.

Niya wrestled the rest of her face out from under the blanket.

"Hm, I might get up if you show me your abs," she snickered.

Don's grin faded into a soft smile. "That would be nice wouldn't it," he said softly as he lowered his head slightly.

Niya sat upright and cocked her head as she looked up at him.

"You know I was kidding right?" she said while placing a gentle hand on his cheek, turning his head to face her.

"Yeah," he answered and put his and on hers.

"Even so," Niya continued, "it is a little weird that we've been dating for two months and I've never even seen your naked body. Or half naked for that matter."

Don sighed. "I know. Trust me, I know. It's not that I don't want to… I… It's complicated."

Niya frowned and pulled back her hand. "June, what's wrong? Did I do something? Is it something I said? Because I'm joking half the time and I don't want you to feel bad because of that and…" Niya rambled until Don raised a hand to silence her.

"You didn't do anything. These are my issues," he reassured her, cupping her face and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Is it about Jess?" Niya asked in a tiny voice.

"No. God, no. It's not about her at all," Don grimaced as he shook his head.

"Then what? I'm a little lost here," Niya pressed.

Flack sighed. "Can we talk about this later? We kind of have to get to work," he pleaded.

Niya crossed her arms defiantly. "No, we cannot talk about this later. You have been avoiding this talk for quite some time now. So give it up. What's wrong?"

"There's something wrong with me," Don whispered.

Niya furrowed her brows and gave Flack an encouraging look, coercing him to go on. And he did.

"You're so gorgeous, Niya, and I'm really not," he stated sadly.

Niya laughed heartily. "_That's_ what this about? Come on, June, you're a knockout!" she cooed as she playfully slapped him on his stomach, causing Don to flinch slightly. Niya's smile faded.

"That's not it, is it?" she inquired.

"Then what is it? Don, you're really worrying me now," she said barely above a whisper.

Flack opened his mouth to say something, but quickly decided against it. Instead he let his hands descend to the bottom of his shirt and slowly started to lift it. By the time he had pulled it up as high as his chest, Niya could finally see what he had been hiding. A scar. A very large scar.

Niya's emerald eyes grew dark as she gazed up at her boyfriend.

"What happened?" she asked hesitantly.

Don pulled his shirt back down and turned his eyes away from her for a moment, but turned back to face her when he started talking.

"A few years ago, we were working on solving a series of bombings. Our search had led us to a building, where the bomber was supposedly hiding. But he wasn't," Don grimaced. "Instead we found a bomb."

For a minute Flack was quiet and seemingly lost in his thoughts. Niya peered into his eyes, looking to detect the faintest trace of whatever it was he was feeling at that particular moment. She couldn't believe _this_ was what he had been worrying about, why he had been keeping a safe distance from her at all times.

"Mac and I," Don suddenly resumed, "we managed to evacuate all the tenants, but… But we never made it out ourselves. We were in there when that bomb exploded and when emergency services showed up I was in bad shape. Mac had been trying to help me to the best of his abilities and if it hadn't been for him, I probably would not have been sitting here," he finished.

Niya raised herself onto her knees and lovingly wrapped her arms around Don from behind as she laid her head on his shoulder, softly placing a kiss on it.

"You know," she started. "I don't know what's worst. You feeling ashamed of something you should be proud of, or you thinking I would condemn you for it."

Don snickered. "I should be proud of a gigantic scar on my stomach?"

"Well yeah," his girlfriend replied. "You saved a lot of people _and_ you've survived something that most people wouldn't have gotten through alive."

"And besides, I'm into you regardless of all of your scars and quirks and imperfections. It's all a part of the amazing Donald Flack Jr. and I wouldn't miss any of it for the world."

A faint smile spread across Don's face. "Thank you, Jonesy," he said softly.

A smirk played on Niya's lips as she vigorously shook her head. "Oh no, thank _you_. Honestly, June, you're quite the catch," she said teasingly.

Don laughed heartily. "I am handsome, aren't I?"

"You most certainly are, Mr. Flack," Niya stated with a curt nod.

"Will you then do your handsome boyfriend a favor and get a shower so he can get to work on time?" Don asked sweetly.

Niya pouted and let out a deep sigh. "Very well then, if you insist…" she finally caved as she got out of bed and dragged herself to the bathroom.

* * *

After Don had dropped Niya off somewhere in Manhattan she said she had some business to take care off, he made his way to the precinct for some quick paper work. It didn't take long though for him to receive a call regarding an apparent homicide, thus forcing him to rush to the crime scene to assess the situation at hand.

Once Flack had gotten there and questioned all the witnesses present, Danny and Lindsay walked onto the scene with their toolkits.

"Hey Flack," Danny greeted his buddy enthusiastically as he gave Don a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"Hey guys," Don replied, giving both Messer and his wife a broad smile.

"What have we got here?" Lindsay asked as she put down her toolbox.

"White male identified as Hank McGregor. He was found naked –and dead– in his bed by his landlord. Hank was two months behind on his rent and Mr. Baker over there came to kindly request our vic to cough it up. Obviously he was a little too late for that."

"Hm," Lindsay mumbled as she examined Hank's body from the side of the bed.

"There aren't any visible eternal injuries. Other than the rash on his penis that is," she added.

"Maybe he got someone an STD and that someone got him killed," Danny grimaced.

"That would suck," Don replied with a raised eyebrow. "But you know what they say. Sex can kill you."

Danny chuckled and gave his friend a meaningful look. "In that case you and Indiana should keep things on the down low," he teased.

Flack responded with a smile. "We'll try."

* * *

Every time Niya Hayes visited a place like the living room she was sitting in at that moment, she was amazed by the fact that people who were blessed to the extent of being able to afford a mansion the size of the one she found herself in, that were able to buy whatever they desired, that had the means of shaping their lives into whatever suited them, could still be so damn miserable. They had an appetite, a hunger for something indefinable, something they felt they were missing, something that wasn't the way they wanted it to be. And even though they were very much convinced that something was lacking, not one of them could ever point out to Niya what exactly that missing link was. Perhaps it was the emptiness of having no remaining substantial desires. Because what would be left for a person who can get whatever they want to desire? Whenever they craved something they would just go and get it. Meaning they could never truly experience the feeling of longing for something. They could never experience that delayed feeling of satisfaction upon receiving something you have wanted for a long time. The longing was what made ultimately getting what you wanted have a deeper meaning, an esthetic happiness, a feeling that was irreplaceable. Missing that longing, happiness and gratitude was according to Niya's beliefs what caused the sense of emptiness the wealthy experienced. An emptiness that caused them to do stupid things.

"The reason I asked you to come here," the graceful woman in her forties sitting across from Niya on a red velvet sofa started, "is very simple. I suspect my husband of having an affair. I need you to figure out with whom."

Niya looked over her hostess. As many women residing on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, this one paid close attention to her presentation. Her chestnut brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun, giving her a strict yet elegant appearance. The woman wore a white silk blouse, cream colored blazer and a knee-length skirt. Pearls were draped gracefully around her slender neck. Her make-up was subtle, but still managed to convey this woman was very meticulous when her looks were concerned. However, regardless of the extreme care she had paid to painting her face and playing dress up, Niya could see through the façade that women on the Upper East Side were so skilled to put up. Niya could clearly see this was a woman who was falling. She had dreams once, dreams to make it big time. But when an opportunity of a different, glamorous life had presented itself, she had let go of those. She had settled for a life of being a prize, a trophy. And now, she was trapped in it. Stuck in an unhappy marriage, stuck in a world where keeping up pretenses was a prerequisite, no matter how unhappy or miserable she felt. Now, the realization dawned her that the chance of having her own life, honing her own skills, chasing her owns dreams, had passed. Her youth had faded and she knew now that she had wasted it on nothing worthwhile. This woman was desperate. Like so many others.

"May I ask why you are so set on having _me_ do this?" Niya inquired.

The woman grimaced. "Rumor has it you are one of the best. Thorough, resourceful, quick to produce results, discrete. It may sound a little crude, but as much as I hate my husband for what he is doing, I care more about handling this situation as discretely as possible. I trust you will respect that."

Niya gave her a curt nod, at which the woman handed her a picture. "My husband," the woman informed with a grimace as Niya looked over the image in her hands.

"This is not going to be a problem, Mrs. Buckley," Niya assured her client.

"Good," the woman replied dryly as she crossed her legs.

Just as Niya bent down to slip the picture in her purse, a young woman not older than twenty-one walked into the living room. She came to a stop next to the sofa and looked down at the woman sitting on it, paying no attention to Niya.

"I'm heading out for a while," the girl spoke and although Niya had just met her, she could feel a clear tension between the girl and Mrs. Buckley, who gave Niya an apologetic smile.

"This," Mrs. Buckley said as she took the girl's hand in hers, "is my daughter Candice. Candice, meet my friend…" her voice trailed off, telling Niya she was obviously thinking of an alias.

"Niya Hayes," Niya filled in while she stood up and extended her hand to Candice. Aliases had never been her thing.

Candice reluctantly took Niya's hand and narrowed her eyes at her when she shook it.

"Well now. How do you know my mother?" Candice inquired.

Niya glanced at Mrs. Buckley, only to see a brief flicker of panic in her eyes, desperately looking for an excuse. But panic was the last thing on Niya's mind. It was after all not the first time she had found herself being in that position.

"I met your mother during the preparations for next week's fundraiser. And I have to say I have been learning a lot from her," Niya started with a wide smile. "It's inspiring to see her dedication to charity and the effort she puts into making every event she organizes into a huge success. She is definitely my hero."

Candice huffed. "Of course she is… Well, I'm heading out. You and your _hero_ have a good time," she sneered as she swung around on her heels and headed out.

After Candice had made her graceful exit, Mrs. Buckley scraped her throat. "Well…" she said with a raspy voice, visibly uncomfortable. "I assume we are finished here, aren't we?"

Niya nodded. "I'll get to this sometime this week. As soon as I have gathered the intel I need, I will get back to you. In the meanwhile, please act normally towards your family. The more suspicious they get, the more difficult my job will become, the more careful I have to be and the longer you will have to wait for any useful results," Niya pressed. But somehow I trust that wearing a mask will not be a problem, she added to herself.

"That will not be a problem," Mrs. Buckley ensured her.

"Good," Niya said with a smirk as she stood up, gave her hostess a curt handshake and got out onto the streets as quickly as she could.

Once outside, Niya took a deep breath and exhaled deeply. Being on the Upper East Side always put her down, depressed her. She loathed the fact that the majority of its population was fake, either literally or figuratively. And every time she found herself being surrounded by these people she felt the need to run away and be part of the real world again. As did she at that particular moment. She longed to see Don, who was nothing but genuine, or even hang out with a brat like Messer. Or Hawkes. Just then it dawned on Niya that ever since the Mummy case had been wrapped up, she had never been back to the crime lab and hadn't seen any of the CSIs, with the exception of her BFF Sheldon.

A smile snuck onto Niya's lips as the brilliant idea of paying them a visit spawned from her mind. She quickly hailed a cab, got one immediately and as she drove away from the Upper East Side she felt her tension slip away, slowly, until she was completely calm.

* * *

"It doesn't matter what you think about him, but you have to admit the guy is charming. _Very_ charming," Stella stated just as Danny and Flack walked into the break room at the New York Crime Lab.

"Nah," Adam Ross replied from across the table. "He's too pretty to be genuinely nice."

"Who are we talking about?" Flack inquired.

"The new DA," Stella enlightened him. "He has some exotic name I can't seem to remember. But what I do remember is that he is definitely very charming. And he seem genuine to _me_," she emphasized looking at Adam.

Adam raised his shoulders. "I would probably think so too if I was a woman. I guess what you ladies are trying to say is that he's exceptionally handsome."

"There's that too," Lindsay, who just walked in, interrupted.

Danny raised an eyebrow at his wife and gave her a questioning look.

"What?" she defended herself. "I'm married, not blind."

Don chuckled and shook his head. "Where the hell did this guy come from, why is everyone so excited over this guy and why on earth haven't I seen him yet? What's so great about him anyway?"

Stella snorted. "Apparently he's from LA. Rumor has it he was some kind of high-end lawyer, but decided to do something a little more _meaningful_ with his life," Stella said. "He seems really nice, intelligent, dedicated to this new calling of his. I guess you could say he's like the male Niya," she added with a meaningful look directed to Flack.

"He sounds perfect. Which probably means he's not," Danny pointed out.

"Is that a nice way of telling me my girlfriend isn't perfect?" Flack retorted with feigned shock.

"Well…" Danny chortled. "Indiana does have sort of a mean streak."

"And with mean streak you mean she doesn't let _you_ bully her around," Stella teased with a smirk.

"Whoever you're talking about, I like her," a voice sounded from the doorway.

Both the CSIs and Flack turned to find Niya Hayes standing there, two bags plastic bags dangling in her hands.

"Speaking of the devil," Danny chuckled, shaking his head in amusement.

"You bet! Now zip it before I go all demonic on your ass, Messer," Niya rebutted with a smirk of her own.

"Uh, hey," Don greeted his girlfriend hesitantly. "What are you doing here? I thought you said you had business to attend to."

"I did. And I have. But if I'm not mistaking it's right about lunch time. Righteous as I am, I've brought you all some lunch."

"Out of the goodness of your heart?" Messer asked cynically.

"Out of the goodness of my demonic heart," Niya reassured him. "Where are Mac and Shelly?"

"Please tell me you did not just call Hawkes 'Shelly'!" Danny called out. "I associate that name with a five-year old blonde with a frilly dress and pink ribbons in her hair."

Niya huffed. "Well, you better get used to it. That name is gonna stick."

"You think he'd let me call him Shelly?" Messer snickered to his wife.

"You could always try," Lindsay replied with a laugh.

"Well, well…" the distinct voice of Mac Taylor sounded in the room. "It sure sounds pleasant in here."

"That's because they all have missed me terribly," Niya spoke, attracting Taylor's attention. "Hello, Mac. I come bearing gifts," she smiled as she held up the bags in her hands.

"Lunch," Danny clarified.

Mac frowned. "Well, that was nice of you," he said with a warm smile.

"My pleasure," Niya responded while setting the bags on the table. "The truth is I kind of missed this place and wondered how you were all doing. Not June though, because I sort of see him every day. And not Shelly because he seems to be surgically attached to my furniture. But you know, everyone else."

"Well it's good to see you too, Niya," Stella beamed at her. "It's been a while since Mummy case, hasn't it?"

"Two months," Don filled her in.

"You've been dating for two months already?" Danny questioned with a frown.

Flack raised his shoulders with a smirk.

"Time sure flies when you're having fun," Niya stated with a wink at her boyfriend.

"Well as long as you don't have _too_ much fun. We learned today that it can kill you, you know…" Danny poked.

"I am going to assume that remark was case-related," Niya guessed.

"Sure is," Messer replied with a shudder.

Niya squeaked and bursted with obvious excitement. "I was wondering, since I'm so nice and caring and all, could I by any chance go into a section room? I promise I won't touch anything and I'll behave like a good girl and be quiet, but I'd really like to see one. Can I?" she asked as she looked straight at Mac.

Taylor shook his head. "I'm sure you'll understand why I can't let you do that. Aside from the risk of contaminating samples, all the bodies being examined are part of open investigations."

"But my DNA is already in the elimination database from when I worked the Mummy case! And I'll pack up tighter than chinchillas huddle in winter and I won't touch anything! Please?" Niya pleaded. "Since I never got to see the mummy?"

Mac let out a deep sigh. "Although I'm not sure where the chinchilla remark came from, fine… but just this once. I was just heading down there to check on preliminary findings of the victim from the scene Flack, Danny and Lindsay processed this morning. Why don't you tag along? That way I can keep an eye on you."

"Really?" Niya beamed, visibly restraining herself from bouncing up and down in pure anticipation. "O, and about the chinchillas they pack close together in winter to preserve their body heat and to limit the diffusion of their body heat to their surroundings that have a lower ambient temperature…"

"Sweetheart…" Flack whispered to his girlfriend, "stop talking and just go down there."

"Fine…" she whispered back before turning to Mac. "I'm ready to go!"

* * *

When Mac and Niya walked into the section room, Sid Hammerback had seemingly just finished his internal examination of the victim on the table in front of him and was stitching up the Y-incision he had made in the chest and abdomen.

"Sid, what have you got for me?" Mac informed.

"Mac, hello. And Niya Hayes?" Sid asked confusedly.

"It is I. Good to see you again, Doctor," Niya replied with a wide smile.

"Likewise," the medical examiner replied as he took off his glasses. "Are you consulting with her again?" he asked with a glance towards Mac.

Taylor shook his head. "No, she just looking," he answered, giving girl standing next to him a faint smile.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I have nothing spectacular here. There are no external injuries on the victim, except for the rash right here around the shaft of the penis," Sid informed, his finger indicating the area.

"Also there is irritated tissue in the mouth and pharynx. We're running a tox screen to see whether the victim came into contact with some kind of poison," he added. "But other than that, nothing."

"How about the internal organs?" Mac inquired.

Sid shrugged. "Nothing. The viscera seem to be in perfect health. Nothing inside or outside his body indicates why this young man should have di-" Sid replied, until he was interrupted by Niya walking up to the victim, hovering over the victim's pelvis, squinting at his genitals.

"Niya?" Mac called her attention. "What are you doing? You promised to behave."

Niya jerked her head up to face him and smiled apologetically. "But I _am_ behaving! It's just that I've seen _that_ before," she said pointing at the penis.

"I'm sure you have!" Sid chuckled, causing a glint a confusion to spread across Niya's face.

"O no, not that!" she called out in embarrassment when the notion dawned on her, waving her arms in front of her chest defensively. "I meant the rash!"

Mac frowned as he gazed at her skeptically. "You're familiar with the rash?" he smirked with a cocked eyebrow.

"No!" she defended herself. "Well, not _familiar_. It's just I've seen it before… I think."

"And where would that be?" Sid asked curiously.

Niya shrugged. "Well, I was with this guy once and he had it."

"On his penis?" Sid said slowly.

"Yes…" Niya replied equally slow. "Turns out the poor guy was allergic to his own semen," she said, a grimace on her face.

Mac chuckled. "There are actually men that are allergic to their own semen?" he mocked.

"Actually, there are," Sid aided Niya. "The irritation of the throat resembles the rash on the penis. If this man had semen-allergy, the irritation of the throat could have been caused by ingestion of his own semen. The ingestion could also have caused acute anaphylaxis, resulting in death."

As Sid proceeded to swab the victim's penis and throat, prepared some microscope slides of the samples he had just taken, and examined them right away. Mac and Niya waited quietly by the autopsy table.

"Well, we have found ourselves some swimmers!" Sid declared. "There spermatozoa present on both the penile samples and the ones I took from the pharynx. We still need to verify all of this, but it seems you made a good call, Niya."

"You are unbelievable," Mac snickered as he shook his head at Niya.

"Only a little," she smiled back.

* * *

Later that afternoon Niya walked out of the New York Crime Lab completely satisfied and descended down the stairs in front of the building absentmindedly. She had spent time with people she genuinely liked and admired. People she liked spending time with. They had laughed about all sorts of things over lunch, ranging from the weird cases they had worked in the past, to funny anecdotes and priceless memories. Stella and Lindsay had swooned over some hot new DA, Don had teased Niya about semen-allergy guy, Messer had bugged her, Sheldon had hugged her. Niya just felt good about the fact they always treated her like one of their own. To top that, Mac had even reminded her once more that his team would definitely benefit from an eye as sharp as hers and that his door was always open for her to walk in and discuss the possibilities. She had ensured him she would consider it and had left it at that. The truth was that she gradually enjoyed her work as a PI less and less and she needed a change of scenery. And why not do something she actually _did_ enjoy and work with the people she _did_ get along with?

Niya smiled at the thought of it just as she rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs… running straight into a tall man who also rounded that same corner.

"O god, I'm _so_ sorry!" she apologized as she looked up to face him. And when she did a sudden surge of electricity ran through her body.

"It's o-" he started to reply, but his voice died when looked down at her.

"Niya?" he asked obviously shocked to see her. But Niya didn't reply. She merely gawked at him, in utter disbelieve of what she was seeing. _Who_ she was seeing.

"Niya?" he repeated as cocked his brow.

It took every bit of will power Niya had to finally snap out of her astonishment and produce a coherent sentence.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I-I-… I didn't expect to see you here."

A warm smile appeared on his face. "I think that goes for me too," he laughed.

"How have you been, Tyler?" Niya asked with a hesitant smile of her own.

"I've managed," he said, still smiling. He had a really beautiful smile. A real one. "You?" he inquired.

Niya raised her shoulders. "Okay, I guess. You know me. I try to be a good girl," Niya replied as she looked him over. He looked good. Tall, broad shoulders, clearly in good shape. He still had his natural tan. He still had the same haircut she had liked so much, the layered brown hair she had loved to run her fingers through. He still had that twinkle of amusement in his bright green eyes similar to her own.

"You _are_ a good girl, Niya," Tyler chuckled.

At that Niya's smile faded. "I wasn't so good to you in the end," she sighed. Tyler's smile faded too.

"I'm so sorry for what I did to you," Niya said, her voice trembling at the recollection of what had happened.

Tyler shook his head. "I'll admit I wasn't very pleased at that particular moment, considering what my intentions were. But you shouldn't beat yourself up over it. I wanted something, you didn't. That's the way things go," he responded with a grimace.

"Still…" Niya insisted, her voice now uncharacteristically soft.

"The past is the past. I don't want you to feel bad about it," Tyler pleaded placing one of his soft, but strong hands on Niya's cheek.

"But I _do_ feel bad. And I _have_ felt bad ever since. Are you telling me that you are over all of it?" Niya called out in exasperation as she pulled away from his hand.

Tyler sighed. "You're right, I'm not. But I don't think we _should_ feel bad about it anymore. We've grown up, we're different people, we shouldn't hold onto things that don't really matter anymore. What we _should_ do," he said with a twinkle in his eyes, "is have dinner sometime and catch up. I'd love to hear what you've been up to all this time I wasn't looking over your shoulder."

Niya grimaced. "I'd love to, but I'm seeing someone. And I doubt he'd be okay with the two us having a dinner date," she explained.

Tyler nodded his head in understanding. "I get that. Would your boyfriend be okay with just drinks then?" he asked with a mischievous smirk, digging his hands into his pockets. Niya laughed heartily.

"You know what? I think he might. But let me talk things over with him first. If it's okay with him, I'll get back to you."

"Well then…" Tyler replied. "If that's the case, you mind need this," he said as he passed Niya an embellished off-white business card. TYLER FERREIRA, DISTRICT ATTORNEY.

Niya's eyes shot open at the realization of what was going on.

"_You_ are the new DA everyone is fussing over? The hot, charming, genuine, smart guy?"

A loud, but sincere laugh erupted from Tyler. "That's how they describe me?" he chuckled. "Well, it's always nice to leave a good impression, I guess. But yes, that would be me. I'm done with LA and its people. With the hypes and show-offs. The entire city seems to be made out of plastic, it's so fake!" he exclaimed.

"Well, I'm sure New York is glad to have you back. I know I am," Niya said with a soft smile.

"Nini?" a voice sounded suddenly from behind her. Niya turned her head and found herself to be face to face with Sheldon.

"Hey," she greeted her friend hesitantly. "Shelly, this is…" she started to explain, but Tyler quickly interrupted her.

"Dr. Hawkes," Tyler greeted Sheldon extending his hand to him. "We meet again," he added with a smile.

Sheldon shook it and laid an arm around Niya's shoulder as he looked at her sweetly.

"You two know each other?" he asked clearly very curious.

"O yes, Niya and I go way back," Tyler laughed. "I know her very well and I think it would be safe to say you are very lucky to have her as your girlfriend."

"My what?" Hawkes chocked out.

"O, Tyler. No, no, no!" Niya corrected Tyler. "Sheldon here is the new _best_ friend. Not the boyfriend.

"I see… My bad," Tyler replied with a snicker. "Well either way, you can count yourself lucky."

For a few moments the three of them stood there speechless until Tyler spoke up.

"Well, as much as I have enjoyed our little get-together, I have some business to attend to. So… you'll give me a call?" he asked Niya with one of his dazzling smiles.

"I will," she ensured him.

"Good," he replied. "Take care in the meanwhile." Tyler smiled as he enveloped Niya in a tight hug. "It was good to see you again," he whispered into her hair.

"It was good to see you too," Niya responded. But as she did, she was wrecked with guilt. Guilt over the fact that she had so blatantly expressed herself to Tyler. Guilt over the fact that she was being embraced by her ex-boyfriend instead of her current partner. Guilt over the fact that she was letting him.

A surge of cold wind suddenly hit Niya when Tyler let go of her and stepped back. "See you around," he smirked with a wink. "Dr. Hawkes, always a pleasure," he said to Sheldon before he disappeared up the stairs and into the Lab building.

"Soooo," Hawkes started. "I see you've met the new DA. And you're obviously good buddies already."

Niya inhaled deeply, exhaled deeply and squeaked as she drove her head into Sheldon's chest. "That is Tyler," she whined, the sound of her voice muffled by her friend's winter coat.

"Yeah, Tyler. That's his name. Tyler Fer-Fer…" Sheldon attempted to recollect the name of the DA he had had met a few days earlier.

"Tyler Ferreira!" a whiny voice sounded from against Sheldon's chest. "That's _my_ Tyler, Shelly, the ex I told you about…" Niya said with a frown as she looked up to him.

"You're ex-boyfriend Tyler?" Niya nodded. "You're ex-boyfriend Tyler who you have known for most of your life?" Niya squeaked. "You're ex-boyfriend Tyler who you have known for most of your life and who you broke up with after he proposed to you?"

"Okay, okay, enough! But yes, that's him," Niya sighed.

Hawkes frowned. "I'm confused. I'm a guy. And I talked to him. He's really nice and bright and charming. Why on earth wouldn't you want to marry a guy like him?" he inquired.

"I don't know what I was thinking!" Niya exclaimed. "I have no freaking clue!"

"Does Flack know he's here?" Sheldon informed.

"I doubt it. I didn't even know he was here until I literally ran into him just now."

"And now you two are going on a date?" Sheldon teased. Niya scowled.

"No! Of course not. Not unless Don is okay with us having a few drinks together," Niya bit back.

"Do you think he'll let you go out for drinks with a guy who proposed to you?" Sheldon inquired skeptically.

"I don't know. I really hope he trusts me enough to let me. I have no idea how he will react when he finds out Ty is here," Niya frowned.

"Yeah," Hawkes replied. "Just don't wait too long to tell him about Tyler…"

"I won't," his friend assured him. "I'll tell him tonight."


	8. Chapter 8 - Saints and sinners

**Author Notes: Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Chapter 8 of WDYHTY!  
**

**Again, feel free to message and review. I'm open to anything that will help improve my writing. But if you just want to tell me how awesome the story is, that fine too! I'd really like to know how i'm doing so far...**

**A special thanks to everyone who added my story as a favorite and my amazing reviewers! Again, it is very much appreciated!**

**In chapter 8, Don and Niya argue over Tyler and Niya makes an important decision regarding her future... Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Other than the amazing Niya Hayes, I don't own anything...**

* * *

**Chapter 8 – Saints and sinners**

I never promised you a ray of light  
I never promised there'd be sunshine every day  
I give you everything I have, the good, the bad  
Why do you put me on a pedestal?  
I'm so up high that I can't see the ground below  
So help me down you've got it wrong, I don't belong there

I always said that I would make mistakes  
I'm only human, and that's my saving grace  
I fall as hard as I try, so don't be blinded  
See me as I really am, I have flaws and sometimes I even sin  
So pull me from that pedestal, I don't belong there  
One thing is clear, I wear a halo  
I wear a halo when you look at me  
But standing from here, you wouldn't say so  
you wouldn't say so, if you were me  
And I, I just wanna love you  
I just wanna love you

**Halo – Haley James Scott**

It had been a long day for Don Flack at the precinct. One disaster after another had presented itself and the only thing that had pulled him through the day, was the thought of his girlfriend cooking him some soul food. Niya was good like that. Whenever she found the time, she insisted on showering him with attention and pampering. Whether that meant cooking, doing his laundry or clipping his nails, Niya would do it gladly. And Don was a bit surprised by that. He initially hadn't taken her for the domestic type. And who could blame him? She didn't exactly come across as a bona fide Martha Stewart. She had seemed like a stereotypical career tiger, a woman set on making it big time, paying no particular attention to trivial things like homemaking. Don had been pleasantly surprised to find out that Niya was a lot warmer and cuddly than he had primarily expected. She liked to, as she phrased it, 'cater to her man'. Unless that man cheated on her of course, in which case she would bite off his penis. Bite, not cut. As to leave rough edges and hopefully infect him with her rabies. Don smiled at the recollection of that bizarre conversation.

As he opened the door to his apartment the scent of a home cooked meal filled his nostrils. And whatever is it was, it smelled amazing. When Don walked into the kitchen, Niya was just finishing setting the table.

"Hello, handsome!" she greeted him as she put two glasses down on the table and walked up to him in order to give him a peck on the cheek before hurrying back to the stove to check on the food.

"Hey, gorgeous," he replied taking his coat off. Don sat down on the couch as he unlaced his shoes and took them off.

"How was your day?" Niya called out from the kitchen.

"Mayhem…" Don responded as he slid back onto the couch and closed his eyes.

"Poor baby…" Niya teased as she joined him in the living room and handed him a cold beer. She sat down next to him and snickered as she observed her boyfriend opening his beer, taking a huge swig and then sighing deeply in relief. "That bad, huh?" she giggled.

"Ah, don't get me started…" Don moaned. "People are idiots. Absolute idiots!"

"Yeah, tell me about it," she said knowingly, grabbed Don's beer, took a sip and handed him the can again. As soon as the bitter taste got through to her, Niya's face contorted with disgust.

Don cocked an eyebrow as he looked at her. "You don't even like beer," he chuckled.

"I know!" Niya coughed. "But I don't like idiots either. And I deal with them anyway. I was making a point here, you know."

Don laughed as he hugged his girl. "Well, next time you want to make a point, try not to kill yourself in the process," he joked and planted a kiss on her forehead. Niya smirked mischievously as she looked up at him.

"Okay," she said with a cheeky look in her eyes. "I'll try to be a good girl. But first… dinner's ready."

Don stood up from the couch, briefly stretched himself and then pulled up his girlfriend as well. "Let's eat."

"So how was your day?" Don asked Niya as they quietly had dinner. Niya shrugged as she impaled a piece of chicken on her fork.

"Hm… the day didn't start very pleasant. I ran some errands on the Upper East Side that I didn't particularly enjoy. Lunch on the other hand was great," she said with a wink.

Don smiled back. "So what did you do after lunch?"

Niya looked at him intently as she swallowed her chicken. "It's funny you should ask that," she started as she put down her fork and took a sip of the Dr. Pepper she had poured herself. "I ran into that DA everyone was so worked up about."

Don frowned. "Really? And? Is he as amazing as everyone wants us to believe?" Don joked, but his smile faded when Niya grimaced.

"Well… It's Tyler…" She said as she looked at him intently.

"Tyler who?" Don asked confusedly.

Niya sighed. "My ex-boyfriend Tyler. The one I told you about."

"O," Don replied slowly. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Not necessarily," Niya started. "It was actually really good to see him again. He looked great, so LA must have been good to him. But other than the fact that he's been away for a few years, he's pretty much the same guy as before. I'm sure you'll like him."

"If you say so," Don shrugged and took another bite of his food.

For moment both of them were quiet, the cutlery making the only sounds as they emptied their plates.

"Would you mind terribly if Tyler and I went out for some drinks?" Niya asked suddenly.

Don put down his knife and fork and looked at her inquisitively. "_You_ want to go out for drinks with _him_? Why would you want to do that?"

"Uh, because he used to be one of my closest friends. And I would really like to know what he's been up to all this time. Or have a laugh about the good old days," Niya defended herself as she stood up, grabbed her plate and emptied in it the trash can.

"You mean the good old days when you two used to date? Because if I remember correctly he also happens to be the guy that proposed to you. Don't you think he might get the wrong impression if the two of you went out alone?" Don rebutted.

"You'd feel better if we brought along more people?" Niya posed sarcastically.

"It's not about that!" Don called out in exasperation.

"Really? Then what is this about? Because it sounds to me like you don't trust me," Niya snapped as she crossed her arms and stared at Don with a penetrating gaze. "Have I ever given you a reason not to?"

"I do trust you, Niya!" Don countered.

"So you don't trust Tyler? We're just two old friends wanting to catch up. Is that so fucking terrible?!" Niya inquired.

Don grimaced as he shook his head. "God, Niya, don't be naïve. The guy proposed to you for heaven's sake! How in the world can you think he doesn't still have feelings for you?"

"He doesn't! You don't know Tyler. He is a good guy and a perfect gentleman. He would never say or do anything that would put me in an awkward position. And if he does, I promise I won't see him anymore. Just have a little faith in him. And me, for that matter."

Don sighed as he put his hands on Niya's shoulders. "I do trust you, Niya," he ensured her, but Niya pulled herself away from him.

"You say that, but I don't think you do. Ever since we met you've been second guessing me. First, you accuse me of murder, then of having an affair with Sheldon. You suspect me of leaving you because of a scar and now I'm going to walk out on you to run off into the sunset with a guy I hadn't seen in years? I have been nothing but honest with you, but that really doesn't matter to you, does it? Are you so scared to lose me that you'd rather drive me away yourself?" Niya argued.

"You're right," Don said softly and gently wrapped his hands around Niya's. "You haven't given me any reason to doubt you. And it's also true that I don't know Tyler. But I do know that if we ever broke up, I wouldn't stop loving you. So I get where he's coming from. But if you're so sure about him, you should go and meet him."

"I don't want you to say yes to keep me happy. I want you to trust me. Really trust me. Or at least pretend you mean it," Niya pressed as she freed herself from Don's grasp and took a few steps back.

"Well, I'm sorry, but this is the best I can do," Don stated bluntly.

"Fine," Niya shrugged as she quickly put on her shoes and grabbed her coat and purse. "Then this is the best that _I_ can do," she retorted as she spun around, walked out the door and slammed it behind her.

* * *

"Do you think I overreacted?" Niya asked Sheldon as she snuggled up against his arm.

Hawkes looked at his friend with a sideward glance, cocked an eyebrow and erupted in a thunderous laugh. Once he had calmed down, he looked at Niya with eyes sparkling with amusement. "Let me put it this way. You sure know how to make a dramatic exit," he grinned. Niya had called Sheldon as soon as she had left Flack's apartment raging over her terrorist boyfriend who wanted lock her down like an obedient little bitch. Sheldon hadn't been able to contain his laughter when she suggested he'd buy her a collar for her next birthday. His friend sure had a flair for the dramatic.

By the time Hawes had arrived at Niya's place, he'd found her on the couch in her pajamas watching Desperate Housewives and munching on chocolate chip cookies. Sheldon had quickly discovered that this was her anger routine: wearing crap, watching crap, eating crap… and occasionally she added talking crap to the list. Fortunately for her, he gave a crap.

"This isn't funny, Shelly! It really bugs me that June doesn't trust me," she scolded him.

"That's not it, Nini. He told you that," Sheldon stated. "Hell, _I_ told you that. It's not so much that he doesn't trust you. It's just that he's not stupid. Even if we for a second forget about that whole Dawson's Creek thing you and Tyler had going on, he still heard the stuff the guys at the lab said today. Everyone was lyrical about Tyler. How gorgeous and smart and driven and charming he is. How much he reminds them of _you_. No guy in his right mind would let his girlfriend go out with a guy like that, no matter what she said or promised."

"O, please!" Niya shot back. "You're all those things too. And he doesn't mind that _you're_ here 24/7."

"True," Hawkes shrugged. "But then again, _we_ weren't sleeping together at some point."

"Argh! Men are retarded!" Niya called out as she stood up from the couch and stomped to her bedroom.

"Thank you!" Hawkes called back as he rose to his feet and followed her. He leant against the doorpost as Niya threw herself on her bed.

"Look," Sheldon started. "Is it really so terrible that he wants to keep you to himself? He loves you, so of course he doesn't want to share you with another guy. And besides, I don't get why you're being this dramatic in the first place. Didn't you tell Tyler you'd only go out for drinks with him if Flack was okay with it? Flack said no, so don't go. You set the terms yourself, so stick with them."

Niya sighed. Sheldon made a point. "I'm a total bitch, aren't I?" she sat upright and crossed her legs. Hawkes chuckled, walked up to the bed and sat down next to her leaning his hands on his thighs.

"Yes, you are. But in your defense, you usually have a point. This isn't one of them times, though."

"Bastard…" Niya muttered, giving Sheldon a playful jab in the shoulder.

"But seriously," she said as she solemnly looked at him. "You're a good friend, Shelly. One who isn't afraid of telling me when I'm wrong without sugarcoating things. And I need you to be brutal. I need you rub my face in my mistakes. And you never fail to deliver, do you?"

"Never," he smiled with twinkling eyes.

For a while they sat there in silence, until Hawkes glanced at his watch.

"Basketball's on," he stated with a smirk.

"Wanna watch?" Niya inquired.

"Want ice cream?" Hawkes rebutted.

"Definitely!" they called out in unison.

* * *

"I'm telling you, man, you gotta stand your ground. If you back down now, you're never going to regain your footing in this relationship," Messer told his friend as they both took a swig of their beer. "Trust me, from what I've been hearing you do not want your girlfriend alone with him."

"He's actually really nice," Lindsay interfered as she joined Don and her husband in the living room after having put Lucy to bed.

"Are you kidding me? You see, he's even put a spell on my wife. I can only imagine what he can accomplish with a girl you've been dating for only two months. A girl that he used to date for four years. And that he proposed to!" Danny uttered.

It had been around eight o'clock in the evening when Don had shown up at the Messers' doorstep, frustrated out of his mind, saying he had fight with Niya over some guy. He said he needed Danny to put some things in perspective. However, after a few shots of whiskey and two beers, perspective was nowhere to be found.

Flack rubbed his forehead. "Sure, but aren't I supposed to just trust her?"

"No! Not with pretty boy!" Danny called out in disbelieve.

"I think he should," Lindsay countered. "If she can't be around other guys, regardless of how pretty they are, your relationship is pretty crappy to begin with."

"Are you trying to say that our marriage is crappy if I don't let you go out with other guys?" Danny inquired.

Lindsay sighed. "That's completely different! It's not like she wants to go out on a date. She just wants to catch up with a friend."

"Who also happens to be her _ex_-_boyfriend_ and _almost_-_fiancé_!" Danny pressed.

"Okay, okay," Don cut in. "So if I get this correctly, the men agree that I shouldn't let her go and the women seem to think it's okay? I see a pattern here."

Lindsay snorted. "When did this discussion become the battle of the sexes?"

"Right around the time women became unreasonable," Danny muttered.

"We're not being unreasonable. We're simply demanding the same rights men have been exerting," Lindsay demanded. "Why don't you tell me, Danny? How many 'old friends' have you met up with since we got married? And how many times have you asked me for permission? At least Niya had the decency not only to tell Don, she asked him whether or not he was okay with it."

Messer was quiet for a few moments as if he was listing the names of the women he had seen through the years to himself. Finally he shrugged. "Lindsay has a point," he admitted as he smirked and shook his head.

"You're sneaky," he grinned as he pointed a finger at his wife.

"Just helping a sister out," Lindsay smiled, stood up and left the room.

* * *

Although Niya hadn't planned on handling the Buckley case right away, she had a strong feeling that if she played it right she could gather the intel she needed in no time. The quicker she got Mrs. Buckley the results she wanted, the less time she had to spend on the horrid Upper East Side. And so, early in the morning Niya parked her rental car in front of the Buckley's apartment building and waited for the man of house to come down. It took a while until he finally did and during that time, Niya had plenty of opportunity to mull over her sins.

Sheldon was right. She had totally overreacted the previous night. She _had_ asked Don for permission to have drinks with Tyler and she _had_ told Tyler that she wouldn't meet with him if she didn't get it, so what had she been so worked up about? Sure, she had really wanted to catch up with Tyler, but even so. Niya had always been a rational person and it kind of bugged her that she lashed out at Don like that for no good reason. As much as Niya hated to admit it, she apparently wasn't above hormonal rants. She decided right then and there that she would pay June a visit later that day to apologize for her behavior, especially since she had promised him she would be a good girl. Or would at least try to be.

When Mr. Buckley finally emerged, Niya watched his chauffeur open the door of his town car for him as the business man got in. Niya turned the keys in the ignition as the driver got into the car as well and pulled up. This was where the fun part started. Niya followed Buckley's car at a safe distance, keeping two cars between her and her target at all times. This proved to be difficult in the bustling Manhattan streets, but it wasn't the first time Niya had tailed a car. She had gotten quite skilled at inconspicuous pursuits, a skill that she'd be more than happy to use if she ever found herself to have a rebellious teenage son or daughter. For a moment she giggled at the thought. She'd be a terrible mom. From the kid's perspective that is. Not that the child wouldn't thank her for all of that when it reached maturity. She'd be the kind of parent her father was. Strict with moderation, but also fair. Open, but not too open. Involved, but not obsessive. And tailing a kid that's up to no good in her opinion did _not_ count as obsessive.

Buckley's car drove around Manhattan for a while before finally heading towards the Lower West Side, where it stopped in front of a grungy little hotel. Buckley stepped out of the car and made his way into the hotel. Niya waited a few moments before she grabbed her bag and too got out of her car, following him into the building. As she expected, Buckley was booking a room. So much for his wife being paranoid…

As Niya walked up to the reception desk she carefully laid out her plan. She didn't particularly like to expose cheaters, but she could most certainly appreciate it when the cheaters made her job easy for her.

Niya threw her bag over her shoulders and marched towards the counter. When she neared Buckley, she smirked, bumped against his arm, dropped her bag on the floor and feigned shock as she bent down to pick it up. As she moved her face past the counter she quickly glanced at the room number printed on the key card that lay in front of Buckley. Perfect.

"O my god, I'm so sorry," she said as she raised her hands at Buckley apologetically. "I didn't see you there."

Buckley frowned. "That's alright," he replied hesitantly as he looked Niya over.

"Are you sure?" she asked frantically patting his arms and torso as if to detect any present trauma.

"I'm fine. Really, it's nothing," Buckley assured her. His strong, brown eyes pierced her own as Buckley gave her a short pat on the shoulder.

"If you say so," Niya frowned. She took a few steps back, turned to walk away and spun back around towards Buckley. "Sorry again," she said.

Buckley waved at her nonchalantly and turned back to the receptionist.

"Will you be paying cash or credit card, sir?"

"Cash," Buckley replied, searching his pockets for his wallet. It wasn't there.

"Excuse me, sir," Niya approached a bell boy in front of the elevator. "I just found this in the lobby," she said with a smile as she handed the young man a black leather wallet.

"Oh, thank you ma'am. I'll make sure this gets to the lost and found. Always nice to have our guests looking out for each other," he replied as he took the wallet from Niya and gave her a friendly nod.

"No problem!" she assured him as she got on the elevator.

When Niya got to the right floor, she got off the elevator and found the next phase of her plan unraveling nicely. In the hallway she found a maid pushing a kart with dirty laundry. Niya watched as the woman took a key card from her apron pocket, opened the door of a room, returned the key card to her apron, went in with a stack a clean towels and sheets and came back out with a pile of laundry. Just as the maid had opened the door to the next room, Niya walked up to her with quick strides.

"Excuse me, Miss," Niya called out sharply as she approached the young lady.

"Yes, ma'am?" the maid replied a little startled.

"Are you the one who cleaned my room yesterday? Room 416?" Niya inquired with a small smile.

"No, ma'am, I'm not," she stammered in reply.

"I see. Well, yesterday your colleague failed supply my room with fresh towels. And what's worse, the sheets on the bed smelled like they had been there for ages. I assume you did a better job?" Niya rambled, making sure the maid's full attention was fixed on her emerald eyes as she slid her hand carefully in the maid's apron pocket and swiftly swiped the skeleton key card.

"Y-yes, ma'am. I changed both the sheets and the towels just now. I'm sure the room will be to your satisfaction," the girl stuttered, gaping in to Niya's green orbs.

"We will see about that," Niya stated with a stern look as she walked up to room 416 slid her stolen key card through the lock and snickered to herself when a green light flickered and the door clicked open. As she stepped in she saw the maid look at her nervously before entering the room she had set off to clean.

The little trick Niya had pulled with the wallet had only bought her a minute or two head start. But that was all she needed. Before Buckley had figured out his wallet was gone, the bell boy had returned it to him and the cheater would once again on his merry way, Niya would already be done handling her business.

She quickly scanned the modest room, with crème-colored walls, sandy brown curtains, a king-size bed with sandy brown sheets with oak wooden nightstands on either side, a dresser with a large potted plant on it against the wall and a door to a small bathroom.

Niya immediately placed her bag on the bed and pulled out a small video camera. She turned it on and placed it inconspicuously between the leaves of the potted plant on the dresser, positioned in such a way that it captured the full view of the bed and the door to the bathroom. She continued by picking up her bag again and straightening out the sheets and pulled a twenty dollar bill from her pocket folded it in half and slid the key card in it. She quickly scanned the room to see if she hadn't left any evidence of her presence behind. When she concluded this wasn't the case she left the room and pulled the door shut behind her.

Just then the maid exited the room she had set off to clean as Niya had approached her. Again Niya walked up to her with a small smile.

"Everything looked just fine," Niya ensured the cleaning lady and flashed her the twenty dollar bill. "Thank you so much!" she beamed as she slid the bill, and the key card in it, in the maid's apron pocket.

"Thank you, ma'am," the girl stammered and Niya smiled one last time before she walked to the stairway and quickly made her way down the steps.

No more than fifteen minutes had passed since Niya had returned to her rental car, had sat down behind the wheel and had connected the wireless camera she had installed in room 416 to the tablet she had pulled from her bag. Niya now had a live feed of whatever Buckley had been up to. At first he had wandered through the room without purpose, occasionally peering out through the window that had a clear view of the street below. He then decided to settle himself on the bed, his hands folded behind his head, and waited for whoever he was expecting.

Suddenly, Buckley jerked up and Niya suspected someone had entered the room. Her suspicions were confirmed when the shape of a female entered the camera's view. Niya studied the woman's features. Her slender, short body. The chestnut hair that fell over her shoulders. Her bright blue strapless mini dress accessorized with a coral colored clutch and a pair of killer heels.

Buckley welcomed her in an eager embrace, his hands hungrily groping her behind. In return the woman swung her arms around Buckley's neck and kissed it savagely. When she turned her face towards the camera, Niya's stomach twisted in disgust. It was Candice! Mrs. Buckley's daughter, Candice. She was doing her mother's husband!

"No fucking way…" Niya muttered in disbelieve. This was exactly why she despised the Upper East Side and everything in it. What was wrong with these people? What was wrong with them that a daughter had no respect whatsoever for the woman that had brought her into this world? What was wrong with them that a man took advantage of a young girl he was supposed to parent? Had these people no sense of loyalty? Had they no sense of dignity? Had they any sense at all?! Niya angered herself over what she had witnessed, what she was still witnessing. For Buckley and Candice now rolled beastly over the bed stripping one another of their clothes. Niya threw the tablet on the passengers' seat, glancing at it every once in a while to see whether the action was over, but not seeing any more than she had to of the disgusting scene. And in that moment it came to her: this was her last case. Niya was done with observing people, always seeing the worst of them. She was done having to witness the lies, the betrayal, the suspicion, the pain, the rage, the madness, the utter unhappiness. She wanted to do something that actually meant something. Not to say that in her years as a private investigator she hadn't helped anyone. There was a limited number of people, good people, Niya had been more than happy to help. The majority of her clients unfortunately was as rotten as those poor bastards under investigation.

Niya sought now to do something for the greater good. She wanted to help make the world a better place one day at a time. But she had to admit to herself, she needed the mystery and the excitement of a hunt and the satisfaction of unraveling a mystery. And as Niya thought all this to herself she realized exactly what she had to do. But that was of later concern, she decided as she returned her focus to the task at hand.

Niya had waited for one and a half hour before the savagery in room 416 had finally ceased. Both Buckley and Candice had quickly disappeared and Niya had reentered the building and had booked room 416 for a few hours. The receptionist suggested the room would be cleaned first, but Niya wove the comment away and insisted she wanted the room right away. Reluctantly the receptionist obliged and handed Niya her key card. Once in the room and having overcome the pungent smell of sweat and what she called a sex scent, Niya fished her camera out of the leaves of the potted plant, pulled out her tablet and a memory stick and copied the video feed to the storage device. Of course she kept her own copy of the feed in case anyone ever came looking for trouble. Once she had secured the footage and packed her stuff, Niya pulled her cell phone out of her bag and dialed Mrs. Buckley, explaining she had the evidence her client had asked for. They decided to meet in two hours in a coffee shop in Brooklyn, somewhere Mrs. Buckley was sure not to run into anyone she knew. Once there, Niya handed Mrs. Buckley, who was dressed in a black trench coat, a pair of black Mary Janes and black cat eye sunglasses, an envelope with a memory stick and a few printed stills. Niya's eyes were fixed unwaveringly at the woman as she opened the envelope and pulled out the images. Niya caught a flash of disbelieve and hatred in her eyes, as well as an overwhelming sadness Mrs. Buckley desperately tried to masque.

"I see," she said sharply, however, the shrillness of her voice betrayed her true emotions. Niya decided it was best to handle business quickly before this scene got out of hand. She had seen this before. When being confronted with news like this, people were swung from one emotion into another, constantly shifting their moods and it wasn't pretty. Most people ended up blaming her for bringing them bad news as if they hadn't even considered for a minute that they could get it.

"Well, then, if that is all…" Niya attempted to cut this meeting short looking at Mrs. Buckley for approval.

"Of course," she smiled weakly as she handed Niya an envelope as well and watched as the investigator opened it, quickly counted the money, frowned and pulled some bills out of the envelope.

"It seems you have miscounted," she said as she slid the bills back to Mrs. Buckley over the table.

"Consider it a token of appreciation for your discretion," was Mrs. Buckley's response as she slid the bills back.

"That is unnecessary," Niya insisted. "You already had my discretion at the negotiated price. There is no need to buy it. To me, integrity still means something," Niya retorted, stood up and left the shop, a weight falling off her shoulders as she stepped onto the Brooklyn streets and headed off towards a new future.

* * *

Although people somehow seemed to think being a crime scene investigator was some kind of adventurous, sexy job, there was nothing exciting about the flood of paperwork that came with it. Mac Taylor frowned deeply as he flicked through a thick stack of paper, trying to estimate how long it would take to get through it. Being the boss had its perks, but it definitely also had its hardships. Not that he was complaining. Taylor was in fact very proud of and content with his job. He wouldn't want it any other way. He tried to the best of his abilities to pass his passion for forensics on to his subordinates, trying to spark the same love for the field, if they didn't already possess it.

A knock on the glass door to his office violently pulled Taylor back to the present.

"Hello, Mac," came a voice from the doorway. "Do you have a minute?"

"Sure," Taylor replied with a smile. "Come on in, Niya. Sit down," he said as he motioned for her to sit down on the opposite side of his desk.

"How are you doing?" Mac asked sincerely. He frowned when Niya grimaced in response.

"I've been better actually. But I reckon everything will be fine again by the end of the day," she posed, earning her another frown.

"That sounds serious," Taylor stated.

Niya shrugged. "Maybe so, but the day I've had has put certain things I've been pondering into clear perspective," Niya replied as she crossed her legs and looked straight at Mac.

"About those job opportunities you mentioned, does the offer still stand?" she inquired.

Mac scratched his chin and looked at Niya intently. "Are you interested? You weren't before. Why the change of heart?" he retorted.

Again Niya shrugged. "Sometimes what we want changes," she said vaguely. "Let's just say that I'm done with being a PI. I'm done with the way people treat each other. And I'm done with being the one to give people bad news."

Taylor squinted. "And do you suppose you'll be giving people good news when you're a CSI?" he asked confusedly.

"Not in the slightest," Niya responded. "But I do expect to contribute what I can to finding out the truth and finding justice where injustice has been done. I want to make the world a better place, because I can honestly say I don't particularly like the way it is now. It is something I don't get to do as a PI. Being a PI has nothing to do with justice and everything to do with one person trying to outsmart another, using me a tool. And I'm quite done with that. I have been for a while," Niya admits.

Mac gazed at her for a while. "And what do you expect from me?"

"Nothing to be honest. But I can tell you what to expect from me," Niya said full of determination as her bright green eyes bore into Taylor's. "If you hire me, you will have my dedication to my work and my investigative expertise fully at your disposal. You will gain a motivated, determined and loyal employee and, if I may say so, a basket of sunshine in the lab."

"You do know how to sell yourself, don't you?" Taylor snickered.

Niya gave him a small smile, but remained quiet awaiting his answer.

"As I've said," Taylor finally spoke, "There is definitely a place for you on my team. If you want it it's yours. Of course we will need to talk specifics, but we're more than happy to have you."

* * *

It was around seven o'clock in the evening when Don Flack pulled up in front of his Queens apartment. He sighed as he pulled the keys out of the ignition, undid his seatbelt and got out of the car. His day had been dreadful. This time it was not because of his fellowmen, but because his argument with his girlfriend didn't sit right with him at all. Flack walked up the steps, dangling his keys on his index finger. Niya, he had discovered, was a person of extremes. She could either be extremely kind, loving and patient, or the exact opposite. There was no middle ground. That was mostly a good thing, since there was no way of saying that she was ambiguous in her statements, but it could also be incredibly infuriating.

As Don reached his front door he thought of the previous night and how happily Niya had welcomed him. Of the food she had made. Of how she had cheered him up after a nerve-wracking day at the precinct. And how barely thirty minutes later their lovely dinner had been disrupted by the ghost of someone that shouldn't have mattered anymore. Tyler, the strapping new DA all the women in law enforcement seemed to worship now, should not have been an issue to them. And yet he was. Both because Niya held on to the idea of Tyler being her oldest friend that she desperately needed to be a part of her life and because Don felt a certain insecurity where the DA was concerned, although he hated to admit it. He felt this way because he was just getting to know Niya, the good of her and the bad. But Tyler knew her. He had known her for years. He probably knew her better than anyone. And she knew him through and through. They had a connection Don couldn't begin to challenge. That had been the main reason for his reluctance to give Niya permission to go see Tyler. It had nothing to do with his lack of trust in her and everything with the fear of her realizing she should have been with Tyler all along. The fear of Niya realizing what she had missed. But Lindsay had made a point. If he put his fears above Niya's needs their relationship was doomed.

Flack scratched his head with one hand as he turned the keys in the lock of the front door with the other. And as soon he opened it, he saw Niya sitting on the couch, her fingers tapping the touchscreen of her smartphone.

"Hey," he said a little surprised and watched as Niya jumped up from the couch and retrieved a little blue box from the table.

"Truce?" she asked with a soft smile as she extended her arms and offered Flack the box.

Don frowned and hesitantly took the gift from Niya. He slowly opened the box and found his present to be a cupcake decorated with blue icing and the words "I'm sorry". Flack looked at Niya as she started to speak.

"I know that I was horrible yesterday. And I'm so sorry. I had no right to react that way. I had after all asked you for permission to see Tyler. I just hadn't considered the possibility you would say no. And when you did, that upset me. And I've been asking myself why ever since," Niya admitted.

"Niya," Don started, but his girlfriend interrupted him.

"I know what you must think. You must think that I'm still in love with him. And I do still love Tyler, I always will. But I love you too. And I wouldn't string you along, Don. If I had wanted out, I would have told you. But I don't want out. What I want is to see where this, us , leads."

"Niya," Don said again, placing his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have been as anxious as I was. If you trust Tyler, if you want to see him, I won't stop you."

Niya snorted. "Are you just saying this? Or are you actually okay with it?" Niya informed skeptically.

"I mean it," Don assured her. "At least you bothered to ask. At least now I know what I'm up against."

"You're not up against anyone," she retorted. "It's not like we're rekindling our romance. We are just going to catch up. Nothing more, nothing less. But I'll promise you this. If Tyler gives any hint of wanting more than friendship that's it. I promise I'll back off."

Don looked at her. "Well, I'm only agreeing to this because you got me this delicious-looking cupcake," he smirked.

Niya smiled as she dipped her finger in the icing and nibbled at her finger. "It's pretty good," she informed Don, dipped in her finger again and smeared the icing on the tip of his nose.

"Really, Niya?" Flack shouted playfully. "Whatever happened to trying to be a good girl?"

Niya pouted. "I did promise that, didn't I?" she asked and stood on her tiptoes in order to come closer to Flack's face. "Well, then. I'm guessing I should make up now…"

"You should," Flack agreed, nodding vigorously. The blue dot of icing looked quite ridiculous at the tip of his nose. Niya smiled naughtily as she licked it off with a flick of her tongue.

"Better?" she teased. But Don didn't respond. Instead he caught her in a kiss, longing at first, but growing increasingly hungry. They twirled through the living room as they felt each other all over, but when Niya started tugging at Don's shirt he hesitated. But as Niya continued to kiss and caress his neck, his face and his chest, Don sighed deeply and surrendered.


End file.
